Forbes Predicts U.S. Gold Standard Within 5 Years

“At no time during my educational experiences have I been preached to about Socialism.” Well, sure. Nobody CALLS it that while you’re soaking in it.

Exactly!What is the fed going to do,hire an army for payment?

ROTFLMFAO!!!! You are a testament to the government education. I suggest you start educating yourself and start being an American and not a statist automaton.

Forbes says a return to the Gold Standard would “…discourage reckless federal spending…”
WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY THE US GOVERNMENT WILL FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL TO NOT ADOPT IT.

Let’s balance the budget and refuse to pay on the debt. Just say, “make me”… while our guns are still bigger and badder.

Only problem I see here is….. Where the heck are you going to find 14+ trillion in gold? Not that I disagree with the need to return to asset based money, the problem is that there are not enough assets on earth to cover the notes that would have to be grandfathered in. That leaves two options that I can see. Abject default of previous notes to match the amount of gold in Fort Knox plus that which can be obtained via confiscation, or, a major gamble on extraterrestrial mining – which we have been saddly remiss in developing since Apollo.

Hey you ever use a credit card…when you do you seem to be richer…until the bill comes due.

why dont you get back to all of us when you have finished grad school and paid your way in the real world for about 20 years, provide a few folks with paychecks, take some risks with your money, and then watch the government steal it. talk to me about socialism then.

Dear JohnsGualt,

I came up through the public education system. I went to a state University, and now I am about to start graduate school. Throughout my entire education I have been bombarded by socialist ideology. Please stop speaking down to others like a condescending a$$ and telling people that a spade is not a spade. Also, try to listen to some talk radio, especially Rush. He makes some wonderful points, and he is dead on the money when it comes to pointing out the utter stupidity of our modern education system in this country. He’s also good at pissing elitists like yourself off, so I encourage you to listen.

Amen

Bring it on. I am tired of waiting.

I think that is just a sales pitch to reach the common man. I have researched him and he sounds just like a bankster. Also I hated his debate answer about foreign policy. The Cain response was “I’ll just leave that to the “experts”.

And John, in all due respect — even while Fred painted with a wide brush — you might consider giving your “government school claptrap” and self-righteous preaching a bit of a rest until you have (finally) exited the soft surrounding of academia and worked in the real world for awhile, suffered the continual burden of real taxes, gotten beaten up (and even, perhaps, triumphed a bit) in the working world, attempted to start a business, perhaps, and actually contributed something of value to the commonweal. And that’s not to mention taking on the burden (and joys) of building a family, having and raising kids, paying for births, braces, weddings, etc.

In short — your theoretical life so far is not one most would begrudge you — we’re all kids once. But you might consider re-reading Fred’s screed, and considering that maybe, just maybe, despite his anxious and generalized tone — there might perhaps be a wisdom there that you haven’t yet — and won’t encounter — until you leave the ivory tower behind and join us in the real world.

That’s fine. I can see where I was condescending in that post. I grew up on talk radio, and have since gotten tired of it. I guess there really is no area of compromise when competing ideologies invoke so much emotional behind one way or another. Did not want to offend anyone, I mearly wanted to present another way of thinking.

John, why don’t you get out of the fake world of academia and get into the real world of making it on your own. Then you will know what a farce this government has become. You have been taught lies if you have taken economics (Keysian economics). They may not come right out and say this is marxism etc. but many of their techniques are leaning that directions. Time for you to get out from living under your parents umbrella and welcome to the new world of 20 percent unemployment. Hope you major in something other than basket weaving 101, because I for one am fed up with paying high taxes to help you unemployed people with worthless degrees.

Why wouldn’t they call it that? Is it some big secret they are trying to hide? Maybe it is another boogeyman in the closet. Glenn Beck Much?

That is a fair point to make stmaximus, but as I said.

Well, joessherditbefore. I am a veteran of the Afghan war, I have a purple heart and was nominated for the Silver Star. I am going to Grad School on the GI Bill. A “socialist program,” as you would like to call it. I grew up on a farm, where since the age of 13 I got up at 3:30 in the morning to milk cows. I have a retirement accoutn vested in the stock market. I have a mortgage that I pay off every month. Don’t lecture me on how life works. I work to make my life what I want it to be.

Why are so many people duped and led astray? I am saddened by so much blindness. Read the real facts on this guy!

thanks for fighting for your country. hope the war does not come here when the reds are going for gold.

Obviously it wasn’t preached. You were indoctrinated, telltale sign, your envy and hatred of the rich, who I’m sure employ and help far more people than you do or ever will.

Sure you did not get a bleeding heart…..what dribble. A veteran of the Afghan war? Were you fighting for the Taliban?

I agree with most of what you just said, but that is not socialism, communism, and fascism. That is the whole point.

Indoctrination rarely states it’s true nature

Four years ago I couldn’t understand the hype over Ron Paul. The more I pay attention, though, the more sense he makes. Ron Paul ’12!

I have taken Marx and Marxism and Communist and Postcommunist Politics at the doctoral level, and I can tell you the faculty of my state university in the northeast was completely filled with socialists. We had a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist professor (who sometimes sided with Keynes), a Maoist, a neomarxist, and several other soft socialists – I guess you could call it a “diverse” faculty. But here’s the kicker. You don’t spread the ideas of Marx and Lenin in the schools by citing them. You appeal to “democracy” or “social justice” or a number of critical theory movements like radical feminism, etc. which implant the necessary cognates to instrumentalize the “useful idiots.” You recruit the brighter academics and then move them, and only them, over to formal study when they get to the upper levels of grad school. Only a few are given the information to integrate the intentionally diffuse and disparate information and can think “critically” about the subject (only within the socialist context). Spare me the nonsense about not hearing about Marx and Lenin in school. Of course you didn’t.

If you grew up on talk radio and actually listened to it, you wouldn’t have abandoned it, unless it was liberal talk radio and Air America that you listened to. Liberalism, Progressivism, Socialism, Communism, Marxism… They are all the same because they lead to the same place. The only difference between them is the speed with which you get there.

A bit extreme maybe.

@ Jon – You wrote – “The US is not going into the next century as a soveriegn nation. That’s been the plan all along.” Were Obama to speak these words now we’d be hearing the only truthful statement he’s uttered during his term.

Fascism is the rotting corpse of capitalism before the transition to socialism in some Marxian theorists’ view. Fascism and socialism are just two different techniques for the state to control the use of property.

You won’t go off the fiat currency without a shooting war. And I mean that literally.

Hey –

Thanks for the response. First point — you apparently don’t like to be
“lectured to,” which is curious, noting the lecture you delivered to Fred.

Second and more important point — I will take you at your word regarding
your resume — thank you so much for your service to our country. Much
appreciated, and can never be repaid — though we will attempt via our
“socialist” GI bill. : )

Glad to hear of your farm background, your work ethic and your investments
in and for the future. Keep up the good work. Way to go in wishing to
“make your life the way you want it to be.”

I wish you the best. Even so just know that life has a way of presenting
us with twists in the trail, so, continue. Work hard, plan, and hope for
and build for the best. And then, (sorry for the lecture here!) when those
twists come, I hope for you that you have discovered a source of God’s
grace to take you successfully through those times.

Best of everything to you, and agin, thanks for your service.

M

JohnsGualt wrote, in response to Stmaximus:

Obama is Bush 3.

Good point. And this has been the case for 50 years now. It’s called “Cultural Marxism.”

And I predict the Republicans will raise the debt ceiling by a trillion dollars or more so deficit spending can continue as usual.

So after you get off here will you go back and tell everyone in your classes that you did your best to educate the unwashed masses? Just for you own edification you are dealing with professionals here lawyers, doctors, PhDs and entrepreneurs so though you are garnering attention please open you mind to people who are far better educated through various systems including real life practical experience. If you are a true student you’ll take what you learn (read) here and apply it to your hypothetical constructs and synthesize a new understanding

That’s fair Stmaximus,
I generally do not reply, or post on any of these stories, because the comments get mean spirited and hateful. Neither of those emotions are very constructive, in my opinion.
Generally, I do not think either side of the political isle, or either extreme, is reasonable in any of their suggested solutions. But that is just my opinion, and I am probably wrong. If I am, I will be the first to admit it.

Best

Gold standard would set the price in stone, and the rarity would slow the country from 670 mph to 5 mph. I have made a few calculations using historical prices of items used by common people for daily living. It’s not an exact dollar amount but this is as close as I could get. Today, Gold would have to be the standard and the price would be $69,677-$73,006 per oz. Silver would be approximately $4,756. per oz……I am not laughing at the devaluation of the dollar

How about oil?

I don’t see the New World Order being a gold standard kind of place. I see it being another fiat currency ponzi scheme. But, if there is a standard of value, it would have to be something plentiful enough to back a one world currency.

Some of you people need to read the Communist Manifesto, so that you’ll understand why the word “Marxism” isn’t derogatory.

So, we will trade our fiat currency/fractional reserve banking for a pseudo gold backed currency.

Let me see, instead of them stealing through inflation, they will just come seize your gold like they did during the last depression. Hmmmm, which way to go, which way to go.

If people have not heard, the Irish government has begun steps to tax the pensions of their citizens. Governments cannot stop their spending so you will see the inevitable here also. It has already been suggested by many to just seize all private pensions and force them into purchasing government bonds.

Pffft, remember your history folks. What does every government do when facing financial Armageddon and loss of power?

For all those people who talk about going to the Gold Standard, no one has yet explained exactly how to do it. Current M2 Money is approximately $8.9T, this is what will have to be backed by gold. If you took ALL of the gold ever mined in the history of humanity that is currently in some refined form at today’s market prices, you would have somewhere in the ballpark of $7.8T. So how do you do it, corner the market on gold? Drive the price of gold to $50,000/oz.? Deflate prices to 1920s levels? HOW do you do it without creating EXTREME market disruptions? Furthermore, for the majority of the time we were on the gold standard previously, the price of gold was fixed at $35/oz. and required the cooperation of all the developed nations to go along with it. Sorry, but I just don’t see that happening.

Costs more than I would ever be willing to pay again.

I did that awhile back and I also came up with numbers similar to yours. Quite eye opening isn’t it?

I never said the Government wasn’t liberal. Again, the terms are not exchangeable. As far as the purple heart is concerned, I should have never brought it up.

Let’s play a game called “who remembers the Regan years?”

1) Giant plunge in US dollar values from 1981-1986

2) Giant PLUNGE in commodities markets (contrary to this article that says dollar volatility is leading to commodities prices going up)

3) Giant RECOVERY in the job markets…

Falling dollar == STRONGER EXPORTS

This would explain why you haven’t been taught “socialism”. Growing up in farm country means that your teachers are more likely to be conservative. Try going to an inner city school, and you will see that there is a major difference from what the self-employed, hard working, and low jobless areas teach, vs. the living in a big city, where unemployment is rampant, the government pays for most if not all of the schooling costs, including breakfast and lunch for the kids, and where if you have a job it is for a minimum wage, so you get food stamps to cover the rest. I would also be willing to bet that you went to a business degree, and a business masters, both of which are controlled by conservative thinking, save economics that one is 50/50.

There is no compromise between Food and Poison.

Exactly. Value for daily living, not starbucks ($3.99 for a coffee worth $.04) but bread, butter, ammo

I suggested about a year ago tying it to a conglomerate of commodities instead of just one. This would stabilize the currency more.

maybe sometime during your State Sponsored Education you should have read the book Animal Farm…. just sayin….

That’s not extreme at all. Let me know where you will be running for office, so I can vote for you.

I find it sad that instead of engaging in the debate of ideas, you choose instead to deride a member of our society, that has put his life on the line for you to be allowed to say such drivel. I am the founder of the local Tea Party, and disagree with his point of view regarding our schooling, but I will never besmirch what he was willing to do for me, and for the US.

Don’t forget to add that you walked 10 miles to school in the freezing weather in the winter. Your story sounds like a lot of hype.

Children today don’t see a need to bring babies into the world. Immigrants will slow to a trickle once Generous Benefits cease. WHO will pay for the social necessities for this generation? I see in the FUTURE…Major Cuts in all benefits for me, my wife, and children. We can not sustain the current spending…(There are only so many trees to make paper) Hyperinflation has to come about for fiat currency to balance

Originally Cain was a supporter of TARP, so you know where his free market loyalties are. From my previous post, the phrases in quotes are Cain’s words. Cain is afraid of what auditing the FED would bring, an understanding of the monetary system. If you want Congress to stop spending like a drunk sailor, you have to remove their tool (the FED) which gives them the ability to spend. You can never pay off a debt, if you owe money (to the FED) every time a dollar is created.

Sure, just make the dollar worth less like since the LBJ-Nixon Era, worth less each year just so we can compete globally, then years become decades of the dollar worth less and less until following you and the FED make it WORTHLESS.

You’re right, I am nobody special. That wasn’t the point of what I was saying. All I said was for him to think for himself. Is that a bad thing?

There are others that are just as viable as Ron Paul, like Herman Cain.

ouch, that was spot on!

There are, broadly speaking, only two ways of sustaining human life: by creating wealth or by seizing it from others. The only economic system where all parties create wealth is the system of free exchange. In all other systems, however structured, some or all parties in an exchange are forced to receive less than a satisfactory outcome.

Socialism is the fraudulent attempt to force everyone to live at the expense of everyone else. Christians will see how it is morally fraudulent because it violates three of the Ten Commandments: lies, coveting and theft. Secularists will at least see that it cannot be imposed without the use of the creditable threat of violence via government. Economists understand that the socialist economy cannot function efficiently because government intrusion in economic decisions destroys essential pricing information. An economy cannot function when the person making the decisions about a particular function cannot know if his outputs exceed his inputs. (Making a profit is mandatory, or finite capital is consumed. When capital is exhausted, the function fails.) This is exactly what destroyed the Soviet Union.

You mean like religion? There’s some indoctrination for ya!

Sadly, the only way that we could afford to go onto the “Gold Standard” would be to revalue the dollar to such a degree as it would be worth the gold that backs it. Right now, we have about 2 Trillion in gold and silver to back our 14 Trillion economy. So until we are willing to take a pinch in the pocket and swap in 7 dollars for 1 American dollar, then we cannot get back to that point. Strap on the safety belt, because the Wiemar Republic is the only way to get back to this point. That and we would have to abandon all of the social programs that we cannot afford.

Ron Paul suggests investment in gold based (or words to that effect) accounts not be taxed on capital gains.

What do you call social security, medicare and the trillions of other publically funded programs run by the government. This IS socialism, the redistribution of wealth. And as the government has got bigger and bigger (massively so since the 70′s). They’ve become more and more socialistic. How can it be that the Government spends $2+ Trillion dollars every year and it be anything else?

JohnsGualt, your repeated references to how much money the talk show hosts are making reveals your true nature. Of course you didn’t recognize your bath in socialism as such, but your posts sure do reveal that you received a healthy dose! So, now tell us all what is exactly wrong with healthy profits from taking a risk and producing an in-demand product, i.e. conservative talk radio?

Thanks Harrison, I like mises.org. I like Ron Paul. I don’t hate people who have zero influence on how I enjoy my own life. I look after my interests first, then the interests of those closest to me, and then to the rest. All I ever said in the first post was for people to think for themselves. That is all I would ever advocate, logic, reason, conclusions.

Best.

Obama is the culmination of Woodrow Wilson, FDR,LBJ, Nixon,Carter,BushI,Clinton,BushII

Welcome to the NWO, Comrades!

WWIII will be between the Communist/Progressive Infidels and the Muslim Believers. Choose a side. Supporters of Constitutional Freedom,Christianity,Hebrews, and other vestiges of western humanity will be irrelevant.

What amazes me more than anything is that the American people have been duped so completely for so long and in spite of all warnings for 100 years. No sooner had the Fed been created than there were statesmen and patriots warning about it.

My God. Everything I believed about this country has been a complete and utter lie. I’m just now realizing that fact more completely than ever before. And to think that my own family has served in the military for as far back as both my great grandfathers. Four generations of military retirees on both sides.

I don’t even know if the country I’ve loved all these years even existed except in some fantasy.

I’m not an academic, I am in grad school because I like to learn, and I want to work in intellectually challenging jobs. As far as the stupid comment, why the hate?

Due to the addiction that half of this country has with feeding at the government pigsty, this will only happen after the dollar fiat currency crashes and hyperinflation takes its toll. Hopefully we will have a country left that we will some order left to do this.

I’m reading all the comments and I *think* there’s one angle everyone is missing…Forbes has increased his gold holdings and what better way to capitalize than to use his fame/name on a public podium to increase his net worth. Even if he is right, I still see him as opportunistic.

A fiat monetary system implies Keynesian economics. The alternative (to which you probably subscribe) is fairy tales, or voodoo as Bush Sr. called it. Nonsense. Why don’t you try spending some time in academia. You might learn something. Not everything worth knowing is something you can learn on the farm.

You are entitled to your own views; I did not criticize your “views”, merely the way in which you advocate your views. You attempted to demonize the mere mention of the Constitution with a linkage to slavery, and you know damn well its not true. Reduce your value? No. Call your character into question, you bet. You’re a liar or stupid. Deal with it. Oh, and your ideas are not challenge. They’ve already played out to their whimpering end. Keep throwing insults, I’ll match and raise you.

when did peaceful protests of the obama administrations take place? when did the protests of the illegal UN OBAMA libyan war take place? i never saw that. no dont reply to me with your promotion of violence. how do i know your not some jerk trying to paint peaceful resistance as a violent movement? you are more likely a plant than some one who is being honest. no violence will be accepted from the resistance. we will not tolerate anarchists, or violent libs trying to ruin this american movement. if you do anything violent around me i will stop you. if you try to harm others you will have to go threw me.

I am currently a college student, and I can say with authority that the indoctrination is in every class and every text book.

It’s the dollar that is inflated….gold just takes time to catch up. An ounce of gold ( $20 double eagle ) was the pay of a successful working man in the early 1900′s .

Caucasian Americans rate in the top 5. Draw your own conclusions

I would assume you read my posts, but yes I do have rational views,a 4yr Liberal Arts College degree, not that it is any guarantee of sanity. I do find your reactionary and racial slur of Caucasians revealing of your character however. Did you have any topics to discuss or debate?

correct and socialism has nothing do do with the federal government maintaining a navy and the constitution forbidden a navy run by the states in times of peace although a state can have a navy in times of war.
The constitution also does not forbid either private navies, private miltias, private armies nor forbid the private production of defense athough for both federal and state government may limit the private ventures within the bounds of authority in the US constitution and state constitution.

To “love” money is to love a thing, which is counter to the teachings of Christ. Money is a tool with which we cooperate and coordinate with each other. It would likewise be wrong to “love” a hammer, but there is no sin in using that hammer towards the benefit of others.
The underlying message of Atlas Shrugged is that profit is the highest moral good, as it represents the value of the benefit an individual provides for society. There are no contradictions. If you think you have found one, check your premise.

The problem with returning to the gold standard is that we “lock in” our debt. At this point, we have only three options to eliminate our debt:
1. Inflate our way out of it,
2. Produce our way out of it,
3. Default on it.

The only one of those that it not destructive to the nation is to produce our way out of it, but we – as a country – refuse to produce anything anymore. Last I checked our current account balance was about half a trillion in the red. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

If I am missing something, I welcome any other options.

gold , silver, copper, zinc, an hour of labor ( Time Dollar), product or service coupons, perfered stock certificate are transparent, federal government GDP stats are not and neither is the federal reserve dollar, the euro, the present British Pound, the Yen, the Yuan, the Swiss Franc, The Candian Dollar, the Austrilian Dollar or the IMF’s SDR’s

MY how the democrat party has changed.
Jackson hated paper money for good reason and he hated the central bank and he killed the bank.

Gold and silver is constitutional money.Read Article 1,Section 10.We have a dishonest government due to dishonest money.

wow how this conversation degraded. Its about the gold standard. It could bring America back to greatness. While were at it lets get rid of MADD too. They are making way too much money on the hard working folks that enjoy a drink or two. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

sbozich: for whatever reason, I was unable to reply to your most current post, so this one will have to suffice.

You posit that there are only 3 ways to extinguish the current debt of the US. However, upon further reflection, I notice (or at least will argue) there is really only 1 way for the US to become free of its debt, and that is to default. This assumes the current debt-based system remains in place. One only has access to the other two means you propose (printing and productivity) if and only if the current debt-regime is first ended.

For support consider first why printing is not an option under our current debt-based money scheme. Printing can at most only service existing debt, while itself creates additional debt that will later need to be serviced. Being able to continually service debt (even if somehow possible to carry on indefinitely) is not the same thing as extinguishing debt. Thus, while individual debt obligations can be retired over time, doing so necessarily creates even more debt obligations greater in number or magnitude(and it’s an exponetial function). Hence, in the aggregate, US debt cannot be extinguished through printing, only perpetuated.

As for productivity, this too is impossible when debt is a central feature of the money supply. What we know about this entity known as the FED (which you label as a “politically palatable scapegoat”–my own labels would not be so generous) is they charge perpetual “rent” to use their worthless notes. Mind you, the government or any private entity could create it’s own worthless notes, which could operate according to the same fiat rules, but without the perpetaul “rent” being due (or as Edison famously said “If the Nation can issue a dollar bond it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good also. The difference between the bond and the bill is that the bond lets the money broker collect twice the amount of the bond and an additional 20%”). Irrespective of the outrageous looting (in addition to normal fiat-based looting) made possible by constructing a debt-based currency (and this looting, unlike fiat looting, does not benefit govt, only the FED), there is also the tricky problem of the exponential function noted above that speaks to the common fallacy that productivity can earn us out of our debt.

In a nutshell, here’s the problem: The FED must continually inflate the money supply at least enough to allow the servicing of current debt–otherwise catastrophic default occurs since there is only enough money in existence at any one time to equal the principal of the debt, and no legal means to pay the interest due above that principal. Thus, interest can only be paid (in the aggregate) by inflating the money supply.

Hence, we get the common fallacy that if productivity is higher than this “rent” being charged on our money, then we can pay off the debt. Yet notice, this “rent” call it the Fed Funds Rate or whatever metric you prefer applies to the aggregate debt as a proportional increase over a given term. THAT, mon ami, is what is known in mathematical circles as an exponential function. And that means from the very start, there is no way to avoid both principal and interest from rising to infinity, and rather quickly, even with very small interest rates.

The fallacy is that while exponential functions are quite cozy in math and theory, they do not and cannot exist in the natural world indefinitely. For example, population growth is modeled with an exponential function, but no one seriously believes population can grow to infinity because, unlike in an equation, real people bump up against real, physical limitations, such as scarce resources, plague, war–whatever. For the same reasons, to assume that productivity can grow exponentially over an infinite period is likewise absurd. Yet, that is what must be assumed if one is to believe that productivity can outpace the new debt–because the new debt is and must be an exponential function, as it has no physical limits other than pushing buttons and adding zeros.

Besides, how do people, even very productive people, ever pay off debt with money that cannot exist but for debt. As long as the Fed exists (or at least maintains a monopoly on our money) it is impossible to extinguish govt debt by any means. In fact, it is impossible for debt not to grow exponentially unless we presume periodic, widespread catastrophic defaults, in which case, the money itself is not exactly operating as the FED promised our hapless Congress 100 years ago. Default is the only available option, and that by itself is still not enough. It must also be accompanied by termination of the debt-based scheme of money.

Sure, but even if we transitioned to a non-debt-based currency, fiat or
otherwise, we would still be saddled with debt, unless – like you point out
- we default, we produce our way out of it (or produce the same amount and
consume less through austerity measures, be they voluntary or forced), or
split the baby by devaluing the currency. I’m going to take the liberty of
divining the spirit of J.S. Mill, and suggest that the utility of spreading
out the pain of repaying the debt over several generations is greater than
placing the cost of default on the next one alone. Indeed, the lingering
effects of the default may very well surpass the time it takes to retire it.
Of course this is entirely speculative; nonetheless it is possible, and
thus should not be discounted.
I’d like to touch base with you on some things off this board. Is there a
way I can get a hold of you?

Bang on Fred! 

That’s exactly what would happen pal.  And it’s the same thing they are doing now, just grind up the ole presses and turn em out.  This is not a bad thing though, IF it is controlled by matching the amount of currency with the amount of wealth that is actually in the economy.  And though it would take smarter people than me (and maybe you) to figure it out, it can be and has been done,  like a stock that is valued at the actual amount that the company is worth.  Competing currencies?  Just how would currencies compete?  Like in the 1800′s where each bank had it’s own note?  Could you or I print up our own currency?  The when these currencies are presented, don’t they have to be honored?  Is that not a form of a “debt-based” systems, of which all currency exchange systems invariably are?  The gold standard is flawed, simply because there is a finite amount of gold, while economic growth, expanding wealth is infinite.  We must have an infinite source of instruments to reflect that wealth Duke, and gold just aint gonna do it.  I just think that what you are proposing is a scaling down of the economy, which is looking back, when we must look forward and “scale up” the economy to the point that we can afford the things that we need to sustain it.  The projects, challenges, aspirations and endeavors of our future cannot be attained using today’s and especially yesterdays economic models.

As for the looting, the businesses are just doing what they do and are getting what they paid for – politicians, who, on both sides of the isle, work for business.  So of course they are gonna look out for the interest of those who sent them.  How would you feel if you hired a guy to cut your grass, and he cut your neighbors.  Well, we have exactly the same thing here.  We didn’t  hire those politicians, business did.  Businesses pay for those television adds and election campaigns… And that’s who they serve and the is the way it will be as long as politicians are allowed to accept money from businesses.  We would be much better off as a country if we just said, hey you, garbage man or CEO, can vote, contribute as a private citizen, but not as a business or a lobbyist.    Businesses and lobbyist are running this country.  What was suppose to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people has become a government of business,  by the business and for the business…  And this is running us by shorting our national interest for the global good – the global business good.  Case in point is that most of the money in the financial bailout went to foreign banks, so the political processes in the United States, especially the republicans, are pursuing an agenda where as the American people are expendable.  Case in point;  Just look at the way that they fought tooth and nail against regulation of the financial industry, the same financial industry that tried to drive us off a cliff with insane schemes to derive profits not from goods and services, but from derivatives and “swaps”, that serve no social purpose or benefit, and as we all found out, end up sucking our treasury dry.  They fight just as hard against any initiative to protect the PEOPLE from business excesses and the democrats are no Angles here and are the another act in the very same show.  They finally watered the bill down to something akin to a wet noodle that does absolutely nothing and has set us up for even greater economic calamities, because the very same people who steered us into that mess basically wrote the bill and are even more entrenched, when they should have been booted onto welfare. 

Capitalism should be unfettered, because we need the imagination, ingenuity and thirst of capitalism to power our economy, but this mixing of government and business is dangerous for all, ESPECIALLY capitalism, because a few more upheavals like 2008 will result in capitalism being taken out the equation, because eventually all governments are of the people, by the people and for the people and answerable to the people and people have a very short fuse for bailing out millionaires and billionaires, especially at their expense, and especially when they are being thrown out in the street.  Government need to be allowed to do what it does and capitalism should be allowed to do as it does.  Governments can’t be businesses and should not try to act like one and business should not and under normal circumstances cannot operate like a business.  Have a good weekend!