2/15/2012 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…
The fruits of Central Planning, via the socialized monetary and credit system which is currently managed by the World’s Central Banks, are beginning to ripen, and the whole world is witnessing the latest social harvest of this doomed philosophy in Greece.
From the Associated Press:
“Tensions between Athens and other European capitals have hit new highs this week. While the European Union is officially still warning of the far-reaching dangers of a disorderly default by Greece, some politicians have in recent weeks downplayed the effects of such an event.
… While the Parliament in Athens faced down violent protests over the weekend to approve a far-reaching new austerity package, the cabinet of ministers remained locked in talks Tuesday evening over how to save an extra euro325 million demanded last week by the eurozone.”
It seems that the Greeks are having trouble accepting the well intended budgetary advice which their credit “counselors” (read overlords) in the north are so generously imposing upon them. Now that the Greeks appear to be balking at their inevitable slide towards a vassal state, the folks in the north are getting restless as their banking syndicates have quite a bit riding on the events unfolding on the shores of the Aegean Sea.
On the other side of the Atlantic, it appears that the similarly indebted US government will escape the fate of externally imposed austerity which Greece is now suffering. The Federal Reserve has made it clear that it will print money to monetize the deficits of the US Government for as long as necessary, and the Republican budget hawks have had their wings clipped with their latest capitulation on the extension of the Payroll tax holiday.
These two events, taken together, indicate that the US intends to go for broke and fully embrace the Keynesian dream of printing its way to full employment.
The obvious solution, then, would be for the Greeks to reject the Euro in favor of not the Drachma, but the infinitely flexible US Dollar.
Unfortunately for the US, and the Greeks, should they choose to join them, the Keynesian dream is quickly becoming a nightmare as the folly of central economic planning begins to express itself in the form of runaway inflation. The policy tools used in the past have succeeded only in stripping the earth and its people of the ability to make productive economic decisions. What now awaits the world is the inevitable adjustment which is likely to lead to a lower standard of living.
At this prospect, Athns burned on Sunday night, and it appears that the last bastions of austerity in the US capital threw in the towel and, for the moment, Washington is not burning.
The tragedy unfolding in Europe is a painful reminder that the power to mint money was never meant to be given, by edict, to an elect few.
Will the rest of the world learn this valuable lesson before it is too late?
Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.
Stay Fresh!
Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com
Key Indicators for February 15, 2012
Copper Price per Lb: $3.80
Oil Price per Barrel: $101.93
Corn Price per Bushel: $6.27
10 Yr US Treasury Bond: 1.93%
FED Target Rate: 0.12% ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!
MINT Perceived Target Rate*: 1.00% AWAY WE GO!
Unemployment Rate: 8.3%
Inflation Rate (CPI): 0.0%
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 12,781
M1 Monetary Base: $2,274,500,000,000
M2 Monetary Base: $9,653,000,000,000
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