Americans Are Angry and Divided

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Americans are angry and divided. The sources of our anger vary depending on political persuasion, but it is all a deception designed to distract us from the theft of our freedom and treasure by politicians whose sole interest is power. We have been divided and conquered by our fears, ceding our freedom without a shot being fired. The mass market manipulators of public opinion use fear to enhance the power of the political elite over the mendicants who gather at their feet to beg alms from the public purse. The proletariat is left to scramble for the scraps among the rushes spread around the Capitol to cover the stench of public corruption.

We now live under a constant cloud of fear manufactured by the political intelligentsia and spread to the masses by the glitterati of the multi media. Coulter, Limbaugh, Kudlow and Kristol for the Republicans. Huffington, Olbermann, Moulitsas and Hollywood for the Democrats. The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute on the right. Brookings and Economic Policy Institute on the left. The Council on Foreign Relations for both. Fear of terrorists. Fear of recession. Fear of inequality. Fear of the changing climate. Fear of offending. Fear of capitalism. Fear of free trade. Fear of competition. Fear of risk. Fear of failure. Fear of immigrants and foreigners. Fear of different lifestyles. Afraid of freedom.

The latest deception is the current economic crisis which Rahm Emmanuel has assured us won't be wasted by the new Obama administration. The crisis is being sold as the failure of capitalism so that the captains of the ship of state can accrue more power at the expense of those of us confined to steerage. The crisis is more accurately described as a failure of the fascistic marriage of corporate and political power, but we are asked to ignore the truth hidden behind a curtain of legislation and campaign contributions. We are told to ignore a Federal Reserve system set up by bankers for the benefit of bankers and politicians. We are told that trillions of our dollars must be "invested" to save a system that is as harmful to our values as it is beneficial to those who lack them.

The sources of the economic crisis are the deception of a fiat currency that distorts the price signals that a market system requires to function properly, and a culture of political corruption disguised as altruism. When our money's value is based on nothing but trust of politicians, is it any wonder that its value has plummeted? When politicians tell us that deficits don't matter, is it any wonder that we incur heavy debts? When the Federal Reserve, in the course of its history, destroys 90% of our money's purchasing power, is it any wonder that we value consumption over saving and investment? When government demonizes corporations and confiscates the rewards of success, is it any wonder that there is a reluctance to invest? This is not a failure of the market; this is the revenge of the market which can be restrained by the leash of central banking for only so long.

The market demands that borrowers be creditworthy despite the wishes of community organizers who use extortion to shackle the poor in the bonds of debt thereby ensuring the employment of future community organizers. The market demands that the supply of houses match the real demand for shelter rather than the artificial demand of speculators enabled by the easy money policies of the Federal Reserve. The market demands that we ultimately must produce sufficient goods to pay for those we wish to consume. The market demands that assets be valued based on a rational appraisal of future cash flow rather than the overly optimistic assumptions of computer models designed by rocket scientists who would have served society better by sticking to rockets. And can we blame the rocket scientists for succumbing to the siren song of Wall Street when the Federal Reserve conjures money from thin air and makes the alchemy of modern finance more profitable than the design and production of real goods?

Our leaders are now working feverishly to construct a "recovery" plan that is built on the sands of further deception. We are expected to believe that the path to redemption can be softened by enacting policies that perpetuate the very causes of the present crisis. If our economy is functioning poorly because we have borrowed and spent too much, how can recovery be manufactured by the borrowing and spending of the political elite? The implied message is that they know better than us how to spend our future earnings, that they are wiser than the collective wisdom of the citizens they presume to rule.

Just as the outgoing Bush team assured us that economic growth could only be secured by acceding to the demands of their campaign contributors, now the Obama team assures us of the same. They assure us that growth can be attained through the payment of indulgences to the Cardinals of the environmental movement, if we only ignore the loss of productivity created by investing scarce capital in inefficient energy sources and the jobs lost in the efficient, if less environmentally holy, extraction of carbon energy. They assure us that we can create jobs by building roads and bridges that will require the use of the expensive energy they intend to impose. They assure us that we can create jobs and improve our schools by repairing the buildings if we only ignore the mediocrity of the results produced by the teachers and administrators who occupy them. They assure us that we can make the American auto companies competitive by loaning them money we don't have so they can retool to make cars we don't need, don't want and can't afford.

As GDP recovers over the next few months it will not be because of this "stimulus" plan, but rather in spite of it. The Federal Reserve has expanded the monetary base in an attempt to avoid the non existent threat of deflation and while that might create the appearance of economic activity, it shouldn’t be confused with productive activity. Inflation is a monetary phenomenon and has long been with us notwithstanding government measures of same that lull only the obtuse into assuming it's quiescent. Further dollar debasement wrought by an over-aggressive Fed and a Treasury seeking to compound the monetary errors of Bush's Treasury heads will only make what was and is a bad problem, worse. The lessons of the 1970s, which we apparently need to learn anew, are being ignored for political expediency. The debt financed government stimulus will add to the inflationary pressures and the net result of all the government intervention will be a larger government share of the economy and a reduction in wealth for US citizens. While the politicians will publicly lament the consequences, they will have accomplished their goal of consolidating their power.

The public needs to see through these deceptions. The Federal Reserve cannot create prosperity by printing more money. Politicians cannot create growth by spending it. The factions who now dictate policy are not interested in our welfare but their own. The media is not unbiased but rather are purveyors of propaganda for their ideological sponsors. The answers to our problems are not to be found in Washington, D.C., but in our own abilities and actions. This country was founded by men who understood the evil that comes from excessive political power and designed a system to ensure it was limited. That system has now been perverted to serve the aims of the very people it was designed to shackle. It is time for us to recognize that fact and start acting to reverse the damage.

It is time for Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, Christians and atheists to put aside the petty squabbles that the political elite use to distract us. It is time to send a message. It is time for a cleansing. Throw them all out. Vote against every incumbent from local to state to federal. It is time for a fresh start.

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