September 29, 2008

(MY WALLET) - For the past few days, I've tried to post meaningful ideas surrounding my own and others' concerns about the price of gas, its effect on the general economy, who may have caused this mess, and the so-called solutions to it. Now, I want to address my own solution to the problem.

In past posts, I have likened our monetary system to a grand barter scheme, a merry-go-round of paper in which we honor everybody else's work-per-hour in exchange for the hope that our efforts will be treated equally. In times when there are no strains, the system works well enough. But when panic ensues, only our belief in our money is left - the actual value of our currency becomes subject to doubt. This doubt multiplies as peoples and cultures from around the world, who have invested in our currency, look to us to provide some constancy to back up our monetary resolve.

I have tried to show that each step along the way to where we now are has been well-intentioned. Not one time has anyone questioned the good will of the people behind the plans.

But now, now we see the result of all these good intentions - chaos in the money markets. Now, our money has no basis in actual value - yes, we worked hard for these pieces of paper, but they are meaningless - a result of unhooking paper from the precious metals that backed them.

In reaction to this meaninglessness of our currency, the world has tied our dollars to the price of petroleum - a substance we do not control. Now, when gas arbitrageurs bet against the price of gas, they're also betting against the worth of the dollar. As the dollar falls in value, the price of gas increases.

When the price of gas rises to a certain level, it makes it impossible for those who COULD have afforded a house payment, in even mediocre times, to make that payment. The housing market, which has been further strained by careless loan approval, begins to crumble. It's not just bad loans going bad, but good loans made to average people going bad.

All because our money has no real backing. The system of national barter, so favored by our well-meaning socialist brethren, which was started by Roosevelt, then later increased by a Progressive congress and signed by Nixon, has shown itself a failure in the face of the pressures of the current problems.

Yes, there are other problems, but the bailout crisis is only a symptom of the problem, and its solution will not eliminate the underlying rot that is our monetary system. If a "solution" is passed without dealing with the errancy of our monetary system, the US dollar will go deeper and deeper into the pit.

We must return to money which represents SOMETHING. Not GOLD. There isn't enough to go around - it invites recession (not enough money to chase goods). Silver might work, the latest estimates agree that only about 45% of all the mineable silver in the world has been dug up. That means that the value of ALL silver can be estimated and then provided by mining. There is more than enough to go around. (The 45% figure is an estimate only, and based on expert interpretation of recent private satellite technology which is, unfortunately, not available to most of us.)

But be aware: even when the money is changed back to having real value, there will still always be panic, there will always be recession, there will always be greed. It just happens. The more we regulate, the more we chance a total failure of our economy.

Make no mistake about it - what we have is a band-aid. We have NOT solved the problem. We are living in a Socialist's wet dream, only we will all wake up with a hangover and deep regrets.

WE MUST CHANGE OUR MONEY. PERIOD. EVERYTHING ELSE IS FRAUD!

- Dick Anderson