Margaret Thatcher is truly one of a kind. This brief clip, besides depicting a session of British Parliament at its best, shows Thatcher rebutting the Socialist leanings for her ideological adversaries with classic lines such as, “by lowering the income gap you mean to say that you wish the poor to be poorer, if only the rich would be poorer as well,” and, “I condemn your Socialist policies along with the millions in Eastern Europe who have suffered under them.”
What is perhaps most striking about this discourse, which took place in 1990, is the final part of the clip where Thatcher saw clearly that the Euro currency would mean the end of democracy and Parliamentary sovereignty for the countries who adopted it, a prophecy which has begun to play out in Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and even the economic juggernaut Germany, where all branches of government are at the mercy of the whims of the ECB.
While we have taken the decision, along with a silent majority of Americans, not to vote in the upcoming national elections, this does not mean that we have given up hope for change, quite the contrary.
Here at The Mint, for better or worse, we have opinions that cannot be confined to a dot on a pre printed scantron form. They require words and dialogue.
Enter the open letter. If one is to effect change in this world, it is important to correspond with those who are in the seats of power and therefore have the ability to effect positive change in this world. If we can change their mind, they can change the world.
When writing world leaders, it is important to both acknowledge their authority and use terminology which we understand to be important to them. We must recognize them as an ally for we share a common aim, the good of themselves and their people. Finally, as people who are derided daily for serving their populace, they need encouragement.
The following is a copy of our open letter to Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia. A proper Spanish translation will be forthcoming. Enjoy!
Evo Morales – President of Bolivia, photo taken December 17, 2007 in Brazil by Marcello Casal Jr. of Agencia Brasil http://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/media/imagens/2007/12/17/1840MC44.jpg
October 29, 2012
An open letter addressed to His Excellency Evo Morales Ayma, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia,
Allow me to extend my warmest greetings to you, Mr. President, and to the honorable people of the great Andean Republic of Bolivia. May they live long and prosper in the blessed land that they inhabit which you capably govern as their humble servant.
I have watched, both from near and far, your passion to liberate and elevate the Peoples which inhabit the land known today as the Plurinational State of Bolivia. I have watched with admiration your courage and determination as you have risen to your current position and as you continue to labor daily for the liberation and dignity of those who have, for too long, been victims of unjust oppression.
I write you today for two reasons. First, to encourage you in your noble struggle. All great leaders, as you know all too well, face adversity, criticism, and opposition from those who are threatened by what they represent. These forces have only increased in intensity as you take steps to repair centuries of injustices. Know that though there may be some with loud voices who heap insults upon you for taking action while they sit idly by, there are many, though their voices be soft, who pray for your health, strength, and wisdom.
Our second motive for writing to you is to humbly offer you three principles which, to the extent they are followed, will allow the Peoples of the land known as Bolivia to excel economically. Bolivia is already a rich land. In the hands of the people, it will be made richer.
Together with you, we reject the Neo-Liberal principles which have wrought destruction on those Peoples who have blindly employed them. Our aim is to provide you with the tools with which not only Bolivia, but all of the inhabitants of the earth, can strive to observe the ten commandments to save the planet which you have generously contributed to the world.
While the titles of these principles may appear in conflict with your first and sixth commandments, we ask that you carefully read the explanations and see that the operation of these three principles will allow for the accomplishment of your ten commandments which to save the earth from exploitation.
A word of caution, it is exceedingly important that these economic principles operate together, or they will not operate at all:
Liberty: Much has been written on the subject of Liberty. Truly, it is the precursor to dignity and the cornerstone of all civilized human societies. As it applies to economic policy, liberty means that Peoples will prosper to the extent that artificial restrictions on their ability to work, produce, and trade are removed. The correlation between Liberty and civilized society is so great, that the chorus of the Bolivian anthem rings especially true:
“Morir antes que esclavos vivir!” {For those reading this in English, it translates as: “We will die before living as slaves.”}
The concept of Liberty, to be productive in society, must not be limited merely to speech and movement, as it is today in most societies which pretend that their inhabitants are free, but rather extended to the ability for a person to engage in trade and other activities at will to the extent that engaging in the activity does not infringe upon the Liberty or property of another. This is the key to Liberty, as it keeps the earth in balance. Dangerous imbalances occur when the Liberties of one group are subordinated to those of another. Our third principle, Equality before the law, deals with this.
Perhaps most importantly today, Liberty must be extended into the banking and currency realm, leaving the decision of the most acceptable medium and methods of trade in the hands of the people.
Private Property: For all of the virtues that the principle of Liberty bestows upon a people, the principle is nothing more than an intangible idea unless its natural byproduct, the principle of Private Property, is respected equally by all members of society. The concept of Private Property is the basis for any and all productive activity which takes place on the earth, from sowing a field to building a wells to provide access to clean water.
Beyond the ownership of one’s person, which should go without saying, a person or group of persons must be able to lawfully possess property, which they may choose to work and share as they please, with the expectation that they will be able to both employ and enjoy the fruits of their labors.
In the same way, the principle of Private Property comes with the obligation to care for and maintain the property that one is entrusted with. The principle itself provides the incentive for the property to be maintained as persons will naturally care for something that they will either enjoy themselves or prepare for sale to another free individual.
In order to be both productive and well maintained, Private property must be held at the individual, family, or community level. If property is held by the government or another large entity, it will be exploited in the same way that property is today exploited by large corporations, who have no direct incentive to care for it after they have extracted the wealth from it.
Equality before the Law: The principles of Liberty and Private Property must be secured for all by the concurrent operation of the principle of Equality before the Law. For people to prosper economically, they must know not only which actions are permitted, but that the laws which are enforced are administered in the same manner to all members of society, regardless of perceived wealth or lack of wealth, race, sex, color, or origin. Only if there is a perceived equality before the law can persons plan and carry out their daily activities.
Equality before the law is the basis for a just society in which people may prosper in accordance with their efforts to help their fellow-man by serving their most intensely felt needs. As such, all laws in a society should focus on protecting both the life and rightful property of the individual or group, any law extending beyond these two realms necessarily serves to limit both the right to Liberty and Private Property which must be held sacred allowed to operate unhindered so that the greatest possible amount of material good can come to the greatest possible number of persons in a society.
We offer you these three principles, knowing that in your wisdom and benevolence, the Peoples who find themselves under your care will benefit greatly and become the envy of the nations of the earth, not for the natural wealth they care for and produce, but for the nobility of their convictions.
Your dedication and service to the people of Bolivia is an inspiration to all of humanity. Our desire is to see all of the Bolivian people, and the Peoples of the world, live in balance and freedom with God, nature, and each other.
Be encouraged and may God bless you and all Bolivia.
A few days ago, we laid out three seemingly absurd reasons why we have decided not to vote in the upcoming elections, with the exception of city and county referendums. If you missed it, you can read our rant here:
In the spirit of full disclosure of our voting record, we have voted in just two of the five Presidential elections that we have been eligible to cast a vote in. Namely, in 2004, we voted for the incumbent on the indefensible reasoning of choosing the “Lesser of two evils,” for though it be the lesser, one has still chosen evil. In 2008, we wrote in Ron Paul, albeit with an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness, as write in votes are, if anything, a symbolic gesture.
In the meantime, we have dutifully filled out countless circles on scantron sheets and scanned countless pages of voter’s guides in a fruitless effort to understand, to loosely quote Joe DiMaggio as he came upon his then wife, Marilyn Monroe, striking her now famous pose as she stood over a steam grate in Times Square, “what the hell is going on around here.”
By the time the most recent ballot arrived in the mail, along with a voter’s guide which rivaled the yellow pages in size, our disillusionment for what today passes as democracy was complete. We resolved, then and there, to stop tacitly endorsing the enslavement and slaughter of persons with which we have no quarrel. We would withhold our vote.
Given our history and our most recent resolution, it can be said that we have not exactly been the model of someone fulfilling their civic duty. Yet strangely, since coming to grips with our non-voter status, we have never slept better.
Are we alone in our disillusionment? Or is our shunning of civic responsibility something native to the American landscape? We have taken it upon ourselves, fellow taxpayer, to provide you with the shocking answer to these questions.
We began by analyzing a data set of the total US voter turnout against the corresponding voting age population (VAP) at the time. We chose the Presidential election years in the US as they are generally the election cycles which elicit the highest voter turnout. Fortunately for us, the voter turnout for the Presidential elections held from 1828 – 2008 is accessible on Wikipedia.
To arrive at the VAP totals, which were provided for the election years 1960 and later, for the prior elections (1828 – 1956), we did the simple inverse math of dividing the number of votes by the stated voter turnout percentage. This gave us a “theoretical” VAP with which to perform our analysis. We then pulled census data for each year which coincided with an election year to satisfy ourselves that our methods were sound.
Within the data set, we then broke the number of popular votes cast in each election, which is also available on Wikipedia, down three ways. Those for the candidate with the majority of votes, those cast for the one who came in second, and the combined votes for all other candidates which were counted. The counts are presented in the order of the highest number of popular votes received, not those cast by the electoral college. It is interesting to note that in four times in US History (three of which, 1876, 1888, and 2000, appear in our data set) the candidate with the highest tally of popular votes was not elected to the Presidency.
We then took the number of popular votes by category and divided it against the VAP for those deemed eligible to vote to arrive at our final data point, the percentage of the VAP which cast a vote for the candidate. As we did this, we added a fourth category which we call the “No vote,” to capture, for comparison purposes, the percentage of the VAP who simply did not cast a ballot.
We then took the four resulting percentages by election year, from 1828 – 2012* (*We extrapolated the findings based on 2008 turnout and today’s Intrade market for the election) and asked two questions:
1) In each election analyzed, was the President elected by a simple majority of the total VAP?
2) In each election analyzed, did the percentage of No votes represent an absolute majority of the VAP?
While we wouldn’t stretch this analysis to question the legitimacy of a Presidential election, the findings are nonetheless fascinating with regards to the presence of non-voters in America. You can see a graphic of the percentages for each candidate juxtaposed against the “No vote” candidate by election year, on the plot below.
On the plot, the highest mark is the winner. The “X” on the plot represents where the “No vote” candidate, if you will, would have finished. The colors of the other markers, despite their blue, red, and green tones, do not indicate which party won that year, only the percentage of votes received by the first, second, and all other candidates for whom votes were cast:
In summary, when taken against eligible voters, the No vote majority began to emerge in 1916 after a 75 year hiatus, and took firm command of the polls in 1968. However, 2012 is shaping up to be an exception, and, if current trends hold, it can be said that, come November 7th, there will be a President actively selected by a majority of the eligible VAP in the US for the first time since Lyndon B. Johnson.
Now, most voters in the US are aware that women were not allowed to participate in elections as voters until 1920. Don’t worry ladies, nor the rest of those who were/are part of the disenfranchised, we have not forgotten you. In fact, when the analysis is expanded to include all of the presumed VAP over 18, regardless of their technical eligibility to vote, (which is the number used to arrive at the voter turnout percentages) the results are even more dramatic:
What we see in this analysis is that, since 1828, there has been only one President who was elected by a simple majority of the VAP, Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. In fact, those who did not vote consistently represented an absolute majority until 1928, which means, depending upon how one interprets the No-votes, there may not have been a President who was elected to office in the purest democratic sense until Eisenhower. While we admit it is a bit far fetched, it is nonetheless fascinating to ponder.
Voter frustration/apathy, after taking a break through a good portion of the 20th century, returned to America in 1996, as Bill Clinton defied the indifferent masses, which again represented an absolute majority of Americans as it had in all pre 1928 elections, and extended his stay on Pennsylvania Avenue for four more glorious years.
Blanco o Nulo? The question of interpretation of the Non-votes.
Blank or Null? The answer to this question determines how one will ultimately interpret the data which we have gathered. Are we to take the “No votes” as “votes in Blanco,” meaning that the lack of a countable vote signifies tacit assent to the selection of the voting majority? This is the generally accepted analysis of the absence of votes in America, where voting is not obligatory.
Or shall we take them, or at least a portion of them, as “Nulo,” meaning that the absence of a countable vote signifies a disillusionment with the democratic process so deep that one simply refuses to go through the motions to lend even a shred of legitimacy to the process?
In Bolivia, it is obligatory to vote, if you cannot provide proof that you have voted, you can face a fine, or worse. This legal obligation has also given rise to an explicit form of voting, “in Nulo,” which can be cast if one chooses not to select one of the candidates or decide on a measure which has been presented.
It is the formalization of a conscientious objection. The likes of which have only been officially tallied in US in the bizarre election of the year 2000, when a Washington DC resident filed a vote as an “abstention” in protest of Washington DC’s lack of representation in Congress.
So which is it, blanco or nulo? It is an important question, and one that, unlike Bolivia, the United States voting regimen currently has no tool to answer.
We have provided a link to the data sheet used to create the above graphics so that you can check our work as well as expand and hopefully improve upon it. Please feel free to download it and use it as you wish.
As November 6, 2012 approaches, the votes are tallied, and a President of the United States is declared, stay tuned long enough to catch the data on voter turnout. With the latest measure of voter apathy in hand, go to a quiet place and ask yourself the following question:
Did the American people win the election? If our predictions are correct, the answer will be the same as it has been with regards to every election before and since everybody liked Ike:
In the realm of economic thought, there are two extremes. On one end of the spectrum sits the economic equivalent of Karl Marx’s workers’ paradise, known as Socialism. On the other end sits the economic expression of Ayn Rand’s rugged individualism, known as Capitalism. As anyone who has studied these philosophical extremes can tell you, the operation of real world seems to constantly fall somewhere in the space between the two, making strict adherence to either an indefensible position.
While apologists for these extreme positions do a wonderful job of explaining why complete adherence to their ideals by all would lead to an utopia on earth, a careful examination of the arguments, along with a quick glance at how things operate in the real world, lead one to conclude thatevidence of both Socialist and Capitalist ideals can be found in nearly any system.
How can this be? If the extremes are both correct in their reasoning, they msut be mutually exclusive of each other. However, we look around at the world around us, as well as into the depths of our own souls, and we invariabley find an uncomfortable coexistence of ideals that is difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile.
That is, until today.
Our aim today is to reconcile this age old dilemna. Fret no more, fellow taxpayer, for the answer is simple: Socialism works for local systems, while large scale systems are best served by embracing Capitalist ideals.
How can this be? The answer is simple.
Socialism, with its embrace of community property and centralized decision making, is a superior policy for systems until they reach a critical mass. Socialism unwittingly provides the framework in which society cares for its economically weaker members. It is a system which is entered into with the understanding that at least a portion of one’s actions will take the form of altruism, that is, they will work for the benefit of others without the expectation of material compensation. In fact, socialism is the basis for the family unit into which a great deal of humanity enters the world.
Karl Marx
Given the barbarities which are justified in the name of profit, it can be said that the basis for morality and human decency most frequently occurs in a Socialist setting. Given the inherent requirement of altruism, Socialism is the system which asks the individual to look beyond themselves. However, as we touch on later, Socialism on a large scale tends to bring out the worst in human beings, as the inevitable onset of poverty quickly diminishes any moral advantage that small scale Socialism may enjoy.
We digress on the question of morality for a moment and instead submit to you an insightwith regards to the corporate structure. It is the revelation that Corporations, entities which are held out as the champions of Capitalism, are, in fact, Socialist institutions (the stunned silence is deafening, please do read on, fellow taxpayer, it will make sense, trust us.)
It is for this reason that wages do not fit well into free market pricing mechanism and instead lend themselves to the “Labour theory of value” which is a base concept of Socialist philosophy.
The logical proof is the following: The employer, employee relationship is based on a set rate per time period of work. Once it has been agreed upon, the wage rate ceases to adhere to free market theory and bcomes a component of the Labour theory of value. The top level managers in corporations that employ persons in an employee capacity become the centralized authorities in what is a socialist realm.
Another proof of this can be found in that property, which is held in the name of the Corporation, is cared for and used by employees. As such, corporate property, as its name would imply, is held in common by subjects who themselves have no property rights in said property. They may be offered shares in the corporation themselves, but this does not directly effect their day to day use of the Corporation’s (their employer’s) real and personal property.
A majority of human beings today find themselves as part of a Socialist entity of some sort, be it a family, household, corporation, or governmental employer (which, for purposes of analysis, behaves in a similar fashion to a corporation). It is within these systems that we have most of our day to day interactions. It is understandable, then, that most people would see a form of Socialism as the basis for a utopian ideal.
However, the members of these same Socialist organizations, the heads of household, CEOs, heads of government, members of Boards of Directors, salespeople, security personnel, customer service agents, and a host of others, well know that the “esprit de corps” which may exist in their organization is thrown aside in their dealings with the outside world. The outside world, where individual corporations collide, is marked by brutal self interest and the protection of private property rights which are the hallmarks of Capitalism.
What gives?
Capitalism, the system which honors private property rights and glorifies the pursuit of self interest, must be embraced and allowed to operate in an unhindered state as the basis for the interactions between the small scale Socialist systems (families, corporations with employees, and those brave individuals who choose to face the Anarchic system of the world alone.)
Ayn Rand
The reason that Capitalism must be embraced by the smaller systems is that its principles, namely the laws of supply and demand and the Golden Rule, must be allowed dictate their day to day activities so that the smaller systems can better adapt and survive in a harsh, unforgiving environment. To put it another way, Capitalism is a superior response to the Anarchy in which we all find ourselves, whether we are willing to admit it or not.
However, apart from its invaluable contributions to understanding the material world, even hard core Capitalists would agree that blind adherence to the Capitalist creed would not only lead to a trampling of those less fortunate in society, but the potential isolation of the individual from human warmth, feeling, and dare we say, loss of the ability to love.
For all of the virtues of Capitalism, its potential frigidness at the individual level and lack of a clear moral compass make it unpalatable to the majority as an absolute ideal.
So the answer is simple. Socialism operates on a small scale, Capitalism on a large scale. Marx asks Rand to dance, she accepts, and the world makes sense. As the theory of biologos attempts to bring harmony to the polarization of two views of the world’s origins, our theory of economic system fluidity allows the economist and politician to embrace both the virtues of the Socialist ideal as well as the Capitalist economic imperative.
The final question which begs to be asked is the following: In terms of size, at what point is it appropriate for a system to stop being guided by Socialist principles and to break up into units better able to cope with the Anarchic surroundings, meaning a leap to the Capitalist model, which naturally defines the size limitation of what may be called a functional Socialist system?
While there is no firm answer, it is clear that a Socialist system has reached its limit when it is corporately bankrupt and unable to fulfill its commitments, either morally or financially, to its members.
In the case of the corporation, it must adjust its productive activities and/or release either property or employees into the capitalist system until it finds equilibrium. The released Employees then find themselves, albeit for a moment, in what may be called the free market for labor. In it, they will either learn to compete perpetually in the capitalist environment and form their own small scale socialist entity, or link up quickly with another socialist entity, be it another corporation, state welfare, or the generosity of a family unit.
The fact that both families and corporations can accumulate wealth are proof that socialist entities can and do compete and thrive in a world where capitalist thinking and political structures are an imperative. It is the ability of each unit to adapt to changes and to seize opportunities which makes the difference.
There is much more to say about this but it will have to wait for another day. We leave you with what should now be obvious. When Socialism is employed on large scales, it looses both its ability to compete as well as any moral superiority which it may have enjoyed. When persons are thrust headlong into poverty, which is the logical economic end of large scale Socialism, what were once moral imperatives are tossed aside in pursuit of purely Capitalistic aims in a desperate attempt to eat.
Anyone who has lived such an event will attest that it is in these unfortunate circumstances that the rotten core of humanity is laid bare for all to see. While unbridled Capitalism has its own faults, which are daily brought to light in the media as a reminder of when it has been allowed to run too far. It is this consciousness, and the human desire for mercy, which work to keep the evils of Capitalism in check.
The beauty of the theory is that the normal operation of each system keeps the proliferation other in check, any attempts by government or sovereigns to impose or preserve one system over the other will end in disaster.
Rushing to extremes is for fools, for the Kingdom of God is one of perfect balance.
At the bottom of every Mint, we include a handy set of data which we consider so important that we have named the compilation ‘Key Indicators.” Taken apart, they are just numbers. They are neither good not bad, they are simply data points.
Taken together, they tell a story. The story of The Mint’s Key Indicators is one of what Nadeem Walayat, over at the Market Oracle, refers to as the “Inflation Mega-Trend.” The phenomenon, in other corners, has been referred to as the “Commodity Super Cycle,” and other superlatives.
The driving factor behind the narrative is that the monetary authorities across the globe are in the process of causing inflation, via direct electronic money printing and intervening in debt markets to create the illusion of low borrowing rates, on a scale once thought impossible.
What makes their inflationary actions all the more sinister is that they are continually trumpeted in the media as necessary due to fears of deflation.
The Inflation Mega Trend, if it indeed is intact, has serious implications for investment strategies. First and foremost, fixed income is dead. Most governmental and institutional debt instruments are issued today at negative real interest rates, meaning that those purchasing them are agreeing, up front, to a loss in purchasing power of the funds.
The classic way to invest in this environment, has been to purchase precious metals, other hard commodities, real estate, and, as one analyst put it, “plastic silverware, toilet paper, really anything real.” Equities have also been a good place to invest as long as the trend is intact, preferably those stocks which are components of the indices which are targeted to rise by the monetary authorities, such as the Dow Jones and S&P 500.
If one is following this investment strategy, the question that must be asked, day after day, year after year, is the following:
Is the Inflation Mega Trend still in place?
The Mint’s Key Indicators are presented to respond to this question. The following is a table which compares each Key Indicator to its level on the same day during the past two years, along with a one word interpretation as to what the annual change in the indicator is telling us:
The Mint’s Key Indicators on October 19
What is striking about this graphic is that, of the three indicators which do not indicate that inflation is continuing, two are, at this point, directly controlled by the Federal Reserve’s actions, the 10yr US Treasury Yield and the FED Target Rate.
Folks, despite deflationary propaganda to the contrary, the Inflation Mega Trend is alive and well. Don’t believe the hype and invest accordingly.
As we watched the Presidential debate Tuesday night, along with the rest of the huddled American masses, we were hoping to hear something that would sway us from our current non-voter status. We hardly listened to what was said, although our radar went up as one attendee asked about inflation, which happens to fall into our realm of interests. The periscope of our consciousness went down, however, as each candidate responded in turn with a stream of words which registered as a vague reference to a non-entity referred to as “the economy.”
They just don’t get it. And unless someone at the top “gets” the concept of inflation and its root causes very soon, the current form of the United States government may not exist by the time the next Presidential term is completed.
With the exception of the inflation bit, we hardly listened to what was said. Politics, as most politicians will attest, has nothing to do with the keeping or breaking of promises. In the end, these expensive popularity contests boil down to the intangible of charisma.
As such, we were more interested in the demeanor of the candidates. Both, while giving the appearance of physically fit, well dressed, and well informed men, seemed to lack something we call the spark of life, that thing that makes you want to be around somebody. The intangible of charisma, so hard to define, yet so apparent when present, did not make an appearance last night.
We decided to retain our current policy regarding democratic elections.
At The Mint, our current policy is to refrain from voting on all matters which ask us to reach beyond our own city and county. Even then, we inform ourselves and vote, not on individuals seeking election to sinecures, but on specific referendums, generally with the dual aim of obtaining personal benefit and minimizing both our tax bill and governmental interference in our personal affairs.
How did we arrive at such an unreasonable stance with regards to voting? How can we consciously fail to perform our “civic duty” year in and year out and still live with ourselves?
The conscious decision not to vote, at its base, is our way of peacefully resisting what has become a shameless power grab at the highest levels of government. A series of well intentioned actions at the Federal level has lead to a number of unintended consequences which are about to cause a great deal of suffering.
Beyond this philosophical objection, there are practical matters to consider, which we submit for your examination and comment:
1. Mind-boggling complexity
From time to time, a ballot measure will be presented which will be stated in a manner so clearly that one can place a vote and know exactly what a yay or nay will mean in terms of real world consequences. As for the rest of the ballot issues, along with the selection of lawmakers and judges as our proxies, one can’t be expected to keep up with the chaos that passes as national and state governments, and for the most part, we feel that participating in elections or the political process on at these levels is at best a waste of precious time and, at worst, encouraging an enterprise which long ago overstepped any reasonable boundaries, both in its authority and its ability to manage its finances. At this point, the best one can hope for is to stay clear of the amoeba.
Large scale democracy has a nasty habit of imposing the will of a few on all via the ignorance or indifference of many. Circa 2012, voters are rarely asked straightforward questions like “Is it ok to steal and kill?” They are instead asked questions like “Do you prefer a fellow named Obama or Romney to serve as President?” We will ignore the fact that politicians on the State and National level are thrust immediately into situations where keeping promises depends upon factors far beyond their control, and simply recognize that the choosing the President of the United States does little or nothing to change the underlying bureaucracies and interests which have turned the Government of the United States into a strange form of benevolent mafia.
2. The question of taxes.
By our calculations, we give up roughly 16 hours per year just compiling data for and filing the required tax declarations at the State and Federal levels. Not to mention the time spent generating the money to pay said taxes. On the county level, this seems reasonable. The county even has the courtesy to calculate the tax bill for us and simply request payment. As for compliance, it is simple, you either pay the bill or you don’t.
Further, if you think that your tax bill is too high, you can leave the City or County and find a City or County with a more reasonable tax regimen, or no regimen at all.
While leaving the City or County may be a costly step, it may be feasible for those who desire to move. Relocating geographically from a State or a Country is quite another matter, which makes their manner of taxation both understandable and sinister.
The Federal and State governments, as opposed to most county governments, have a much different take on both taxation, as well as the rest of the authorities which they have granted themselves over their subjects. We use the term “grant themselves” because, as anyone who has tried to vote their conscience on a ballot measure can attest, many measures are written in a way that simply makes the voter a tool in the hand of those who crafted the legislation.
{Editor’s note: We will refrain from going into the argument that somehow, the illusion of democracy, the Western embodiment of the “Might makes right” mentality, creates a government with legitimacy on the scale the the State and Federal Governments circa 2012 claim. It is sufficient to say that there are an abundance of examples which would argue to the contrary.}
Returning to taxation with regards to the State and Federal regimens, it is up to the individual to file a declaration each year at their own expense. Naturally, the governments reserve the right to audit said declaration, again, at the taxpayers expense. If any inconsistencies are encountered, the taxpayer faces a myriad of penalties from the payment of additional taxes and penalties up to and including serving time in prison.
Even this tack could be considered reasonable were the tax codes written in a straightforward manner. As things are, the income tax code serves as nothing more than a spider’s web, designed to entangle all who tread it. We are all caught in it, it is just a matter of time until the spider makes its way over to devour us.
The saving grace, if there is one with regards to the State and Federal tax regimen is this.They can’t take us all. While it is likely that every single American has failed to fully comply with the 73,608 page tax code, it is extremely unlikely that the spiders of the various Government or State tax authorities will ever get around to eating all of those who are caught in their web. As with any predator, they tend to go after the larger prey first.
In this sense, adopting the Franciscan/Marxian belief that poverty is a virtue may keep one safely off of the spider’s radar.
3. The Trail of Tears
While both complexity and having to pay for something are generally good enough reasons to abstain from any activity, the most compelling reason not to vote is one that is best understood by examining one of the most shameful examples of the modus operandi of the Federal Government: Their well documented dealings with the Cherokee people, whose world collided with the Feds in the early 19th century in the Southeastern part of North America.
The Trail of Tears, a painful chapter in US History – courtesy of http://katta1f.wikispaces.com/
We refrain from making value judgments and will simply examine the highlights of the interaction as we understand them. A much more detailed account can be found, as always, in the Wikipedia.
The Cherokee found themselves generally prospering as a people and inhabiting lands in the Southeastern US in the 1700 and early 1800’s after presumably relocating there from the Great Lakes region. During this time, they increasingly came into contact with European settlers and engaged them in trade.
As time went on, the increasingly organized and well armed colonies began to covet the lands of the various Indian groups in North America. Once the revolution against the British and subsequent conflict known as the War of 1812 had been won, the States of the newly formed United States of America began to dispossess the various Indian peoples of their lands.
{Editors Note: Sensitive readers are asked to excuse, for the moment, the use of the term “Indian” (Columbus most likely died believing that he had landed in India en route to China, hence the mistaken identity attached to Native Americans peoples), instead of the appropriate “Native American”. The choice to change terms at this point in the essay was made consciously so that the reader may understand which groups were impacted by the barbarous Indian Removal Act. No disrespect is implied or intended.}
While their tactics changed according to what was politically expedient at the time, the general policy of the State and Federal Governments was to ultimately expel the Indian populations and force them West, so that the vested interests of the States could take advantage of the lands which were occupied by the Indians.
What is most troubling about the treatment of the Cherokee people is that, from what we can tell, they had adapted to life amongst the new colonists and generally worked to comply with what were ultimately unreasonable demands of the governments. As a case in point, the Cherokee allied themselves with and fought alongside the US against the pro-British factions during the War of 1812. They served the US’s interests in the war alongside none other than Andrew Jackson.
Jackson later returned the favor by signing the Indian Removal Act in 1830 which sealed the Cherokee’s fate and began the final chain of events which would lead many of them to an early grave along the now infamous “Trail of Tears.”
While the the Indian Removal Act was passed on the assumption that the Cherokee and other Indian groups faced certain extinction were they to be forced to live alongside the increasingly numerous white settlers, it is generally acknowledged today that the real motivation for the Act’s passage was the discovery of gold in Georgia.
We have read about and watched similar scenarios of deceptions preceded and followed by apologetics play out too many times by centralized governments over the ages to believe that a group of persons who do not know our name and are so far removed from us that they would not recognize our moccasins if they took the time to walk a mile in them, have our best interests at heart.
Even if they did, we have observed that their best efforts to effect change on a large scale end up causing more harm than good. While the economic damage done by such unilateral actions can be repaired or forgiven, the damage to the moral character of a society of embracing this might makes right mentality will ultimately destroy it.
The desire not to participate in the choosing of the next person to be called “Commander in Chief,” or any of their collaborators or subordinates, is the primary reason why we will not be walking around with a sticker on our chest or an ink stained hand on election day.
For The Trail of Tears has been tread for too long. It is time to live in the Kingdom of God.
With the election cycle in full swing, we turn our attention not to the national scene, where two people we will refer to only as BO and MR are bombarding the nation with empty promises in hopes that the dangling chads in November will fall their way, but to more pressing local matters.
Here at The Mint, we recognize that the natural operation of anarchy renders much of what happens at the highest levels of government, which in the US means those seated at the State and Federal levels increasingly irrelevant. While they have the potential to do great harm, government on a large-scale generally suffers from a form of paralysis which makes their decisions increasingly meaningless to the average Joe. They have grown to the point where they are nothing more than an amoeba, which at best should be ignored and at worst, actively avoided.
As such, we consider it a great waste of time to obsess over them.
Government at the local level, meaning the City and, more importantly, the County level, has a much greater direct impact on the lives of its constituents. As such, we see government at the City and County level as absolutely necessary to the smooth functioning of society. We also present, for your consideration, that participation in government at a local level is not only time well spent, it can be profitable.
A great opportunity to guide public policy at a local level is presented frequently at events that are generally referred to as requests for public comment. While in some cases, these events are held to give an air of legitimacy to an already planned action, some of them present a grand opportunity to sway local policy and public resource investment decisions. Given this grand opportunity, it may come as a surprise that these events are often overlooked, even by those who would be directly affected by the action being considered.
For your perusal and enjoyment, we present the following example of yours truly taking advantage of such an opportunity presented by our County’s Minor Betterment Project Committee.
Each year, the committee is presented with a list of potential minor public works projects which have been vetted by overpaid consultants and assigned a ranking based on a point system which is theoretically designed by the consultant to capture potential public benefit of a project in a tidy little number.
This is like the BCS for your tax dollars, and, as any NCAA coach knows, it never hurts to lobby your case, especially when the voting is tight.
We recently found out that a much-needed improvement project, one that could modestly increase our property value, had made the “Top 20” of the latest version of the public works BCS.
The ancients had sidewalks, why can’t we? photo of sidewalks in Pompeii by Paul Vlaar
Like any good coach, we picked up our digital writing implement and began to lobby for our own, local, pet project. The result of this activity is what we call “A Passionate Appeal for a Sidewalk,” a transcript of which follows:
As both a property owner and frequent pedestrian of this stretch of Madison Road, I can attest to the large-scale safety hazard that the lack of a pedestrian walkway on this stretch of road presents daily. Not only to the school children who wait for the bus on the thoroughfare during the morning, but all manner of pedestrians, bicyclists, school bus drivers, and vehicle operators who daily traverse it. Were it not for the vigilance of the drivers on this stretch of road, this perilous route would no doubt be the site of a lamentable tally of traffic fatalities.
For those who have not seen it, Madison road is narrow and increasingly relied upon by all manner of commuters (pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists) during rush hours. During these peak times, it is commonplace to see cars nearly miss a head on collision with each other as they make a noble attempt to give way for pedestrians (a majority of which are school children) who literally have no choice but to walk along the 12 inch border of the existing roadway alloted to them. Alternative routes for this pedestrian trail are far enough away to that they are not viable options, and, as we mentioned before, pedestrian traffic on this stretch of road continues to increase.
While the sidewalk project proposed to remedy this dangerous situation is the most expensive on the list, and can hardly be considered minor, the money spent will likely spare a tragedy involving the dangerous mix of vehicles and school children which is present every day of the school year. If the goal of these projects is to increase the safety of the community, this project has perhaps the greatest potential to do just that. In a sense, it is long overdue.
We, your neighbors along this deceptively dangerous stretch of Madison road, appreciate the committee’s attention to this matter.
What do you think, will our impassioned plea sway the committee to divert funds into our pet project? We should know by late October whether or not ours comes out on top. Either way, civic involvement, on a local level, is necessary given the proximity of the governing body. While the body and budget itself is small, its potential to wreak havoc on your everyday life is too big to ignore, just ask anyone who has found themselves on the wrong end of a dispute with an activist home owners association board.
As for the State and Federal versions of Government, in their late, degenerate, bankrupt form they can do little more than create the illusion of watching your every move and controlling the details of your life. Despite their large-scale propaganda and their presence at the airport gate, they are mostly harmless. Your impassioned pleas and time spent informing yourself on issues are best spent at the local level.
Who knows? You may even save a life or make the world a better place, all while increasing your property value at the government’s expense.
It is the closest thing to Nirvana that the governed can experience.
We have recently completed reading a book entitled “The Language of God” by Francis S. Collins. Dr. Collins is extremely gifted geneticist who was the head of the project which lead to the mapping of the human genome. This makes him a rock star in the scientific community. He is also a Christian, which makes him a rock star in the Evangelical Church. In this book, his aim is to use both his personal faith journey and his revolutionary work as a geneticist to reconcile what would appear to be a long, deep chasm between the two most popular theories regarding the origin of the world: Evolution and Creation.
Collins takes great pains to appease both camps, and ultimately ends up defending a position which theoretically appeases both: Theistic Evolution, TE, or what he calls “Biologos.”
The concept of Biologos, as we understand it, is that the earth is indeed billions of years old, yet the process of evolution, which God chose as His creative process, has been intricately designed and nurtured by Him. As such, it rejects both the literal seven day creation narrative in Genesis and takes it as allegory, which, given the text, may be a defensible position, as well as natural selection as the guiding light of evolution, which, again, given the mathematical improbabilities of random changes evolving into the world in which we live today, may also be defensible.
However, Dr. Collins is such a brilliant mind that, as he studies the question from nearly every angle and offers a rebuttal to the Evolution, Creation, and Intelligent Design theories, His presentation of Biologos, while an attempting to create harmony, leaves itself open to the very critiques with which He so skillfully dismisses the other theories.
Namely, Biologos appears as simply another “God of the gaps” argument which Collins so eloquently dismisses Intelligent Design on its obvious shortcoming: If you are basing your faith in God on the fact that there are phenomena that cannot be explained, limiting God to acting in only those spheres that mankind does not yet understand, you run the danger of having your faith shaken if and when science provides an irrefutable, natural explanation for an occurence once thought possible only through divine intervention.
Dr. Collins’ rebuttal of the literal seven day creation also rang empty. In the single page with which He addresses the theory, He fails to raise any other argument apart from the fact that there is undeniable proof that the earth has been in existence for billions of years. He then implies, from His revolutionary work on the genome, that all living things share a remarkable similarity at the base level, which he logically extrapolates as proof that all that we see is the result of an evolution from a base form.
While Biologos may help those who cannot imagine that the very concept of time itself may be flawed to sleep at night, both His elaborate defense of the mechanism of evolution and haste in dismissing the creation narrative in Genesis leaves the 47% of us who do believe in the literal young earth creation story feeling somewhat slighted, as the crux of the question lies in two different perceptions of time which Dr. Collins discounts without addressing objections as he so skillfully does when rebutting pure evolution and Intelligent Design.
To sum up a lengthy explanation of our position, that not only the perception of time, but time itself is subjective, we ask the following question: Is time currently flying by for you, or does it seem to be dragging on forever?
No matter how one responds, the question itself implies that the perception of time is relative when taken against creative processes. If time is flying by, this implies that your perception of your ability to create is outstripping your perception of the time available to dedicate to creative tasks. If it is dragging on forever, it could be said that you are creating things at a pace more rapid than you had allowed based on your perception of time.
So it is with the observance of natural phenomenon. Evolutionary theories imply that creative processes involved in genetic mutations take place over a constant flow of time. Anyone who has realized a creative activity will quickly recognize that the flow of work or ideas which leads to observable outputs is hardly constant, rather, there is a burst of activity, followed by a consolidation and revision, and finally an output.
Our conclusion, albiet informed by nothing more than our logic, is that evolutions that appear to have taken billions of years to be realized at a constant rate of change, are the product of a burst of creative activity which has then slowed, and consolidated since its inception. The rates of change, observed in genetic mutuations and carbon dating, which we take for a fact now, cannot be extrapolated backwards nor forwards as constant rates of change simply because current rates of change have been observed and calculated in the past 100 years.
We must say, however, we are not a scientist, rather, a philosopher in this sense. Our position may or may not be defensible. Only the broken yardstick of time will tell.
Puns aside, we find ourselves in agreement with Dr. Collins’ premise that basing one’s faith in literal interpretations of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, leaves one open to any attacks on those interpretations which necessarily present a crisis of faith for those who lean on them. In place of literal interpretations, he offers both the existence of the nearly universal moral code amongst the human race, as well as the well documented eye witness accounts in the Bible, namely the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as irrefutable evidence that God exists and has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus.
He then adds what we consider the most reliable proof of God’s existence and care for mankind, that we can have a personal relationship with our Creator.
We also enjoyed Collins’ presentation of C.S. Lewis’ brilliant argument for Christ’s diety as presented in “Mere Christianity:”
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. … Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”
While the book does not go as far to settle the debate regarding the origins of the world as one might believe, the true gem of this book lies in the appendix, where Collins explores the ethical implications of his work on the human genome in a style which is truly awe inspiring.
Perhaps the most striking example is His observation that those who oppose stem cell research on ethical grounds must also oppose in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures to be consistent, for during IVF, fertilized human eggs which are in the early stages of development are routinely
10/15/2012 – Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…
In today’s Mint, we offer, for your enjoyment, an event which transpired during our time of service on the democratically elected dorm council as secretary at Weyer Hall, circa 1993. While the narrative touches upon many themes that will no doubt evoke strong emotions, we humbly offer it as an example of the shortcomings of governance by democratically elected bodies.
It is recounted here, with certain liberties, in loving memory of Ma Tinder, long time dorm Mother at Weyer Hall. Enjoy!
The Stampede.
During our short, but eventful time as a student at Hastings College, we resided in Weyer Hall, an all male dormitory which housed 70 residents. While we assume that the College Administration had ultimate responsibility for campus governance, each dormitory was governed by a small group of democratically elected peers who sat on what was known as the dorm council.
During the Fall semester of our sophomore year, it fell to us to serve on the council as Dorm Secretary. We say fell, because we did not exert much effort in our campaign, nor did we crush an inferior opponent in a moderated debate. For all we know, we may have raised our hand at the wrong time, an innocent mistake which caused our name to land on the ballot.
Nonetheless, we were determined to serve our fellow residents to the best of our abilities. As Secretary, our responsibilities included taking notes of the decisions of the dorm council, which invariably included the details of certain disciplinary actions taken against those who did not follow the rules and were foolish enough to get caught, publicly recognizing noteworthy accomplishments of the residents, if any, and informing them of upcoming events.
Our diligent dispatches reached the desk of the College President as well as the backs of every bathroom stall in the dorm, where they were most likely to be read. For a time we created toned down, official version of the dispatches for the President. However, our inner laziness finally demanded that we produce just one dispatch, complete with all of the juicy tidbits and unsolicited commentary fit to print.
The President seemed to love it.
The dorm council meetings were held in the quarters of the Dorm Mother, affectionately known as Ma Tinder. Ma Tinder’s quarters were located at the center of the first floor of the three story structure. She resided there, along with her dachshund “Peanut” as a source of calm in what was otherwise a cross between “Revenge of the Nerds” and “Animal House.”
The dorm council’s business, which it faithfully discharged at its monthly meetings, was to decide trivial matters, such as the design of the dorm t-shirt (which is fodder for another day), as well as to enforce the rules of the dorm. Violations of the law of the dorm included residents found to have invited a female to the premises without signing them in at the desk, excessive noise, possession of alcohol and other illegal substances, and in one infamous case, the unlawful operation of a charcoal grill…indoors.
The tranquility of Weyer Hall was about to be transformed Photo Courtesy of Hastings.edu
The dorm council, as with any governing body, was divided into unspoken but acknowledged factions. Those who were there to enforce the rules, and those who were there to ensure that the rules, if enforced, were loosely interpreted and administered with clemency.
You can imagine which camp the younger Mint fell into.
So it happened that on a Sunday afternoon, as winter descended upon Central Nebraska, the dorm council assembled in Ma Tinder’s quarters during mandatory “quiet time,” as was the custom. As we were discussing matters of relatively trivial importance, a pounding noise, distant at first, then increasingly loud and frequent, arose from somewhere in the interior of the building until it passed, as would a locomotive, directly above Ma Tinder’s isle of tranquility.
It was the Stampede.
Those members of the council who were firmly in the rules enforcement camp immediately sprang to their feet in pursuit of the perpetrators of what was obviously a direct affront to the authority of the council. To flagrantly violate “quiet time” by running in boxers and boots, as heavily as one could, through the hallway directly above the meeting place of the council was not simply a minor violation of the rules, it was mutiny.
Those of us who found ourselves in the “loose interpretation/clemency” camp slowly arose, fighting off a chuckle, and give the appearance of chase as doors all over Weyer Hall immediately shut as the Stampede ended just as suddenly as it had begun.
For not only did we see the Stampede as an artful form of both coordinated self expression and protest, we had helped instigate it.
In the end, while the entire dorm was given a stern warning to respect the the rules, there were no individual indictments. Like history makers throughout the ages, the Weyer Stampeders had proved their point,
Today we came across one of the most insightful pieces on education that we have read in quite a while. Perhaps we are biased because it we written by a member of our comparatively small generation, or perhaps it is something more. Virginia Heffernan, the national correspondent for Yahoo! News posted an article today entitled:
With what appears to be the benefit of hindsight and a sober look at her own educational experience, she eloquently voices a viewpoint which, almost out of necessity, is quickly moving from the fringe to mainstream thought. A traditional college education, circa 2012, not only fails to offer a competitive advantage in the workforce to those who can set aside four to six otherwise productive years and the untold thousands spent during that time period, it places undue financial and social pressure on both parents and their children from the time of admission to graduation day.
The College Education: A ticket to a rewarding career or four years of indoctrination followed by a trip to debtors prison? There must be a better way. Photo of Harvard Yard in 2009 by chensiyuan
This undue stress is generally attributable to the fact that parents and students alike who find themselves in the middle of a financial commitment which equates to more than a few years worth of wages are collectively questioning the wisdom of throwing money at an investment whose return has turned unacceptably negative in recent years.
The reason for this, as most current economics students may struggle to tell you, is that the college education, like any other economic good, is succumbing to the workings of to the law of diminishing marginal returns. This law is one of the beautiful, immutable natural laws which states that economic activity, if carried on long enough, will reach a point where each additional dollar of capital invested will render a lower return on investment than the previous dollars invested.
This phenomenon is attributable to changes in the underlying supply and demand dynamics which take place as the natural tendency to chase outsized returns drives more people to engage in high margin activities, which increases the supply of that activity’s output. This supply, as it satiates demand, then serves to lower the price of the product until the producers with higher cost structures are driven out of business while producers with lower-cost structures continue producing profitably at lower price points.
The application of the Law of diminishing marginal returns when applied to College degrees in the US
For a period of time, beginning in the 1940’s in the US, it was relatively rare for an individual to obtain a four-year college degree. In economic parlance, there was a scarcity of college educated individuals relative to demand. Those individuals who did obtain a degree received a higher return on their investment in education in the form of higher wages for the rest of their working lives.
{Editor’s Note: We recognize that this analysis ignores the dynamics in the US economy during that time period leading to the demand for college educated individuals in the workforce. For purposes of this example, we submit it as a given to avoid further divergence from our theme.}
As time went on, more and more individuals saw the wisdom in investing in a college education, colleges and universities increased their capacity and course offerings to satisfy this demand. As the workforce continued to demand college educated individuals, this created a virtuous feedback loop in the higher education industry.
This virtuous feedback loop became so normal, as did rising stock prices in the 80’s and rising home values in the 00’s, that seeking to attend a four-year college has become the goal for a great majority of teens.
Circa 2009, the supply of college educated individuals began to overwhelm the demand for their services. At this point, the marginal return on investment for attending a four-year college for many has decreased to the point where it no longer has a positive net present value, the financial criteria most often used by rational individuals when determining whether or not to undertake an action.
Against this dismal backdrop for education entered a phenomenon which is poised to deliver the knockout blow, the widespread adoption of the internet.
While the net productivity gains realized by the advent of the Internet are seen in many spheres, the Internet is maturing to the point that it is now fundamentally changing the structure of education.
Our mother wisely told us, during those difficult years we spent at the University in the 90’s, that the only thing college will teach you is how to access the information you need when you need it.
The advice has served us well, as has Google.
Unlike Heffernan, we do not feel that our college degree is obsolete. In our epoch, it was necessary to attend a four-year school to learn the disciplines of accounting, finance, and treasury which support us today.
However, the internet has fundamentally changed not the disciplines, but the delivery methods of said education. Now, an individual desiring to learn a discipline such as accounting or economics no longer needs to pack their bags to party with others for four years while fitting in class between video games and other shenanigans.
That individual can peruse The Mint, for example, form the comfort of their living room. Then, after leaving the site. thoroughly confused (for which we wish to be held harmless, mind you), they can access any one of thousands of free online tutorials and videos created by capable individuals who will provide an education on a specific subject on demand in a fraction of the time that it takes to obtain a degree.
Gary North has written recently on the YouTube educational phenomenon as well. If one has something to teach the world, it is a small task to obtain a microphone, video camera (think webcam or smart phone), and a YouTube account. Simply teach the class once to a camera, post it, and your done, saving countless hours needlessly spent drooling on yourself as you sleep through class in a lecture hall. This is how a majority of education will be served over the next millennia.
The internet is fundamentally changing the education industry in the same way it has changed communication, and many of our alma maters will soon resemble the US Postal Service, which has struggled in vain to maintain its current state and sinecure structure as the world it grew up in has changed forever.
This analysis does not even address the fact that many four-year colleges have struggled to keep up with the ability to teach the skills demanded by the modern workforce. The net result of this change in delivery methods and competative disadvantage will be the loss of a number of sinecures in the hallowed halls of Liberal Arts colleges across the land.
While the liberal arts and art itself will always find ways to flourish, paying to be forced to read literature that one is not interested is quickly becoming a luxury that college students cannot afford.
There is much confusion amongst economists regarding the effects of the various programs which are currently being run by the largest of the Western Central Banking cartels known as Quantitative easing, better known by its keystroke saving acronym, QE.
For the uninitiated, QE involves the Central Bank issuing currency in exchange for government debt and all other manner of otherwise worthless financial assets provided to it by the banking class. In the best of cases, it provides liquidity for what would be a temporary hiccup in an otherwise healthy economy. In the worst of cases, which most who have taken a sober look at the financial industry would agree we are in, it serves as a backstop for financial asset prices, placing an artificial floor under the price of what passes as collateral in the financial system.
In any case, the Central Bank agrees to swap the wine of its currency for the sewage on bank balance sheets. As anyone who has put this theory to the test will tell you, if you add a teaspoon of wine to barrel full of sewage, you get sewage, while if you add a teaspoon of sewage to a barrel full of wine, you get…sewage.
QE – Sewage in disguise
Following this analogy, the existence of QE means that the currency of all of the Western world is now sewage.
While the pure, hard money Austrian school analyst sees it as a prelude to a hyperinflationary event, the Keynesian sees it as a necessary evil. At this point, there is no real argument that QE, by definition, is inflationary. However, the perverted feedback loop between the Central banks’ issuance of currency, the Governments’ issuance of debt, and the banking sector serving as an increasingly weak middleman, has managed to keep a large portion of the freshly created currency parked in either the Treasury or at the Central Bank in the form of excess bank reserves.
As the logic of the Central Bank goes, once the storm blows over, the stars will align and all of the sewage will turn back into wine. The currency created as a part of QE will simply disappear, as it never really left the FED anyway.
Simple logic, right? You can almost cut the naivety with a knife. The fact is that the freshly minted currency is here to stay. As long as the Governments, Central banks, and banking cartel exist in their present form, none of them can afford for even a cent of the sewage they have created to disappear. It is there for the long haul. All the average man or woman can hope for is that the sewage doesn’t spill off of their balance sheets or work its way to the water supply of the real economy.
All of this is old hat to fiat currency hounds and bond vigilantes. The dangerous new twist which is just now in its infancy is the application of quantum theory to the mix.
Here, we must turn to the razor sharp intellect of Mr. Walayat, whose analysis over at The Market Oracle is on the cutting edge and generally spot on.
Walayat, along with Lee Adler of the Wall Street Examiner, are amongst the handful of analysts with a true understanding of the banking system and the motives and logical consequences of the actions of the Central banking cartel.
As the currency event in Iran unfolds, those of us in the “secure” West would do well to read up on what awaits as the Western Central banks throw their inflationary machines into overdrive, what Walayat refers to as “The Quantum of Quantitative Easing, or the keystroke saver: QQE.”
The operation of QQE is simple and predictable, yet unnecessarily mind-boggling.
As in a standard QE operation, it begins with the Government issuing debt which is purchased by members of the banking cartel in exchange for currency, which it then spends on any number of pet projects. The Central Bank then buys the Government debt from the banks and receives the interest which is paid by the Government. The Banks park the currency they have received from the Central Bank at the Central Bank and earn interest on it.
QQE ensues when the Central Bank then returns to the Government the difference between the interest paid by the Government on its own debt and the interest paid out to the Banks to keep them afloat. As the Central Bank will never take a nominal loss on their debt holdings, and the Government will never default as long as QE remains in place, The Government is not borrowing at the implied interest rate that it auctions its debt at, rather, it is effectively borrowing at the rate that the banks earn on their reserves deposited at the Central bank, less the cost of the Central Bank’s operations!
Is your head spinning yet? Stay with us, it gets better. The longer that the policy of QE continues (and it will continue until the currencies of the world blow up, as the Iranian Rial is in the process of doing,) the Government is effectively swapping out its old debt, issued 30 years ago at anywhere between 11 and 14%, for new debt at an effective rate of 0.25%! Those interest savings on the rollover are the rocket fuel of QQE. They are what will allow the Governments to both ramp up spending and reduce the relative size of their balance sheet.
By the way, those “savings” come at the expense of every person and organization which holds the currency as a savings vehicle.
In order to gain a fuller understanding of just what is going on, read the articles linked in the above paragraphs at your leisure. They will help to make sense of what is occurring as we begin to see the paradox of increased government spending and reduced or stable levels of national debt.
Oh yes, and double digit real inflation rates, despite the irrelevant claims of the BLS propaganda machine. Plan accordingly, this is not a drill.
The pages of the Bible are full of characters. The characters may be explicitly identified in the Biblical narrative, or, as we have explored by way of the Bible Play earlier, implicitly present. As the teacher, it is extremely important to identify the inspirational character in the narrative that is being explored.
Bettie Mitchell, the founder of Good Samaritan Ministries, described the appearance of inspirational characters in the following way, “Anyone willing to lay down their life for others IS A BIBLICAL CHARACTER…God himself is the inspirational character of the Old Testament. In the New Testament, those who came into contact with Jesus became inspirational characters”
You will notice the above statement appears to expand both the range of inspirational characters to every Biblical character as well as the opportunity to become a Biblical character to anyone willing to lay down their life for others.
In order to understand the concept of the Biblical and inspirational character, we must first understand something about the Bible.
The Biblical record has been carefully passed down to us by the Jews, who see the Old Testament as not only the history of their people, but a sacred text entrusted to them by God which is to be shared with the entire world. In this sense, Judaism is unique to many religions who view their sacred texts as proprietary information, accessible only to those with the proper spiritual credentials.
It is odd, then, that the Old Testament should not be a book which has been carefully edited to make the Jewish people appear especially heroic. In fact, it may be said that a great deal of the Old Testament deals with the Jewish people’s shortcomings when establishing and attempting to fulfill their covenant with God.
In the same way, the New Testament may be seen as a compact version of the same, self depreciating narrative of the origins of Christianity.
Yet the point of the Biblical narratives, which have been carefully preserved and widely disseminated against all odds, is not to justify the position with relationship to God of Jews and Christians, rather, it is to point out that it is impossible for anyone to claim a place of privilege with regards to The Holy One.
As one reads through the Bible, it quickly becomes apparent, as early as the second chapter, that the performance of good deeds is not a preresiquite for inclusion. While being a Biblical character may bestow upon the individual a certain amount of fame, it does not automatically qualify them as an inspirational character.
Yet there is one action that is and always will be pleasing to the Holy One, it is the act of starting where one is and desperately seeking after God.
“Here I am. Send Me!” Isaiah, an example of an Inspirational Character {18th century Russian icon of the prophet Isaiah located in the Iconostasis of Transfiguration church, Kizhi monastery, Karelia, Northern Russia, painted by an unidentified artist during the first quarter of the 18th century.}
The desperate seeker, from Isaiah declaring “Here I am! Send Me!” (Isaiah 6:8) to the Apostle John, who, upon hearing John the Baptist call Jesus the Lamb of God (John 1:29), arose and ran after Him, to the desperate man or woman today, crying out in the middle of inexplicable pain and loss for answers, the desperate seeker is the inspirational character.
The one who is constantly seeking and moving towards God, the one who chooses to turn the other cheek, to lay down their life for others, to accept and carry out the hard assignments, to walk humbly with the Holy One, to seek justice despite incurring personal injury, to love their neighbor as themselves, they are the inspirational characters.
Seek them out, in the Biblical narrative, within yourself and all around you, and you will find them. Once the inspirational character has been identified, the class will be greatly enriched as you, as the teacher, encourage the class to experience the Biblical narrative from their perspective.
Once identified, it is extremely important to supplement your knowledge of this person by exploring them as they appear in other Biblical narratives, if any, as well as other credible historical references that may be available. The class will connect to the the Biblical narrative and the assignments presented only to the extent that they connect to the inspirational character.
Further, one of the goals of the class setting is to bring the class as close as possible to the inspirational character, so that they may be in a position, as the inspirational character was, to accept the assignments which are presented to them as individuals. For one, it may be to reconcile with a family member, for another, it may be to pick up their mat and walk, for another, it may be to accept a position of influence to root out corruption.
Whatever the assignment may be, the inspirational character will help those in the class to find the courage to seek out and accept them. For the Lord is with those who seek, and great blessing awaits those who are willing to say, along with Isaiah, “Here I am. Send me!”
As you and the class explore the text together and are lead by the Holy Spirit, it will become evident that all of those present have the potential to be the inspirational character in their home, workplace, and beyond.
” by Francis S. Collins. Dr. Collins is extremely gifted geneticist who was the head of the project which lead to the mapping of the human genome. This makes him a rock star in the scientific community. He is also a Christian, which makes him a rock star in the Evangelical Church. In this book, his aim is to use both his personal faith journey and his revolutionary work as a geneticist to reconcile what would appear to be a long, deep chasm between the two most popular theories regarding the origin of the world: Evolution and Creation.
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