Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Inflation Tax

from www.ronpaul2008.com:
Today, the federal government burdens us with one of the most dangerous taxes it can impose — the inflation tax. When the federal government finds that it cannot afford its out-of-control spending, and is unwilling to directly tax the public, it resorts simply to creating the money out of thin air.

Inflating the money supply is the easiest form of financing the government. The Federal Reserve, an unelected and unaccountable private organization, pumps more dollars into the economy whenever it chooses. Because the public is forced to accept these bills, the Fed essentially gets away with legally counterfeiting. We cannot possibly expect the government to control spending when it has a blank checkbook.

This greatly benefits the politicians and special interests — they are able to finance the massive welfare-warfare state. But how does this inflation affect you?

Basic economics tells us that the more there is of a good, the less valuable it becomes. This is also true of money. The dollar is worth four cents of what it was when the Federal Reserve was created in 1913.

Day by day, every dollar you have is being devalued. You pay an inflation tax without even realizing it because you are forced by a falling dollar to pay more for goods and services....

I keep some similar items in my quotes file:
"Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalist system was to debauch the currency." -- John Maynard Keynes, THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE PEACE

"By a continuous process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens... The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose." -- John Maynard Keynes, English economist and board member of the Bank of England

I've said before that public goods are very few and far between. Government control of currency is NOT one of them, any more than government control of telecommunications, news media, the water supply, education, health care, or roads. (Now there's a big stack of rants I must remember to do some time.)

Friday, January 25, 2008

I've been tagged!

There's a first time for everything. This is the first time I've been tagged. I checked to see who'd linked me, and up popped Shakespeare's Cobbler, one of the more regular combox commenters. The meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

I keep very few books within close reach. I decided to not count the ebooks I keep on my HD, since not all of them are paged, and it wouldn't really be possible to say which was "closest." Having finished "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," it's now over on my roomate's desk. Most of my other books are not in my home, but for a few that I don't keep within arm's reach.

The closest bound codex type book is one of two references I keep at hand for online discussions regarding the faith and the Church: Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, revided in accordance with the official Latin text promulgated by Pope John Paul II. Page 123, sentences 5-7 are in paragraph 489.
By virtue of this promise, Sarah conceives a son in spite of her old age. 129 Against all human expectation God chooses those who were considered powerless and weak to show forth his faithfulness to his promises: Hannah, the mother of Samuel; Deborah; Ruth; Judith and Esther; and many other women. 130 Mary "stands out among the poor and humble of the Lord, who confidently hope for and receive salvation from him.

And I used to read novels and fiction voraciously. These days, other things are much more important.

Who to tag? I am not going to impose anything on anyone. Whoever feels like it can say so in the combox, and I'll put up a link here.