Quality Missing From Economic Measurements
Every time our government borrows a dollar or prints a dollar not based on
anything of recognized value, the dollar in your pocket, savings account or
investment goes down. That is government-fueled inflation at work.
For almost 40 years I have been aware of this phenomena after a heated
argument with my grandfather led to extensive research in quality versus
quantity.
Today it is much worse and the corresponding hyper-inflation that goes with
unrestricted printing of money is no longer inching towards Americans, it is in
a full dash to gain the speed necessary to get a maximum length jump for when it
decides to pounce.
Make no mistake, America's government--at all levels-- has encouraged
Americans to borrow and spend in order to keep their fantasy world operating.
But Americans do not have the luxury of printing their own money like the
government does.
But by constantly chipping away at the value of the funds held onto, the
government is feeding Americans desire to satisfy the "me" factor by going into
debt.
How bad are the official guidelines for inflation? Alfred Hitchcock or
Steven King never created a movie horror to match the game the government has
concocted from the inflation beast.
According to our government's finest economists, when the Baby Boomers were
born (right after WWII) a dollar then is worth about $10 today.
The official numbers are a joke. In 1953, the end of the Boomer births, an
average new 3-bedroom home sold for just over $10,000. Today the average price
of a home in America, including the hulks being sold for a dollar in Detroit, is
$219,000. That's almost 22 times as much as 1950 and means the government boys
playing with the numbers are more than 50 percent off at best.
Go back to the worker in 1950. The average job paid about $250 a month. On
that wage a worker could support his family and swing the price of a new car
every three to four years. The Oldsmobile Rocket 88 cost about $1500 and
therefore cost about half a year's wage. Income tax didn't kick in until wages
cleared the average earned threshold of $3,000.
Today, the government figures the average household income (usually meaning
two wage earners) is a tick over $47,000. Some pickup trucks and cars cost more
than a household's year's wage before options are tacked on and before
the tax bite is removed.
To compensate, again flying in the face of government statistics, Americans
work longer than any other group. Many middle class households have both parents
working now which wasn't the case in 1950 and it is not uncommon for one of the
working members of a family to have a second job as well.
America prospered in the 1950s. Industry didn't have to rebuild after WWII
like most of the remaining industrial nations, everything went into building a
dream.
This wasn't good enough for the government bean counters, they concocted
the idea of keeping interest rates artificially low so Americans would go into
debt to keep that elusive economy bubble
hanging higher and higher. Americans began accepting debt as a way to maintain
and increase their standard of living.
But the debt load begun by the Baby Boomers is now a drug on the economic
system. The economy has become accustomed to it, like a junkie and his heroin or
cocaine.
Government is having to invent regulatory headlines to show Americans they
are compassionate and sincere about providing access for the "consumer." (Notice
it is no longer "Americans" garnering attention but the vague, inclusive
"consumer".)
The system is not broken because of the consumer; it broke because the
politicians and financial system gurus were too clever. Economists aided this
cleverness by trying to quantify everything. The bumblers forgot to keep quality
in the measurement.
The consumer is swayed by what he can feel, see and hear. Not so
governments.
By creating an non-based currency
system, governments recognized they could control the population. You can
control assets and time. You can even create photo ops for the very people who
created the mess to demonstrate that this person or group, at least, is doing something for the
consumer.
Barack Obama is a master at this hype. But he too has failed to account for
that elusive 'quality' factor while
pushing for a socialistic state that measures only quantity. The quantity may be
there but it has to be to compensate for the lack of staying power by the drop
in quality.
The dollar is in the same state. The $15 minimum wage being pushed is
great, but it won't matter because the quantity will be offset by a
corresponding decrease in quality or value. That's the hidden inflation now
being served the next round of Americans.
Continental dollars were used to start the evening campfire during the
Revolution. They were literally "money to burn." The current greenback has less
value than that today. That is close to hyperinflation.
"I have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility
to every form of tyranny over the mind of man."--Thomas
Jefferson
I had a reader who listens to the "In Defense of a
Nation" show request I write down the words I sang during the
broadcast:
We're
going through a culture revolution, the Liberals say they're the group that's
mod.
But
while they're blowing smoke on air pollution, we're hanging on with the help of
God.
The
gays now run San Francisco, conservatives are endangered in New York. America
lost most of her liberties, when DC denied the app of Robert Bork.
Christian
values exist outside the Beltway. Target practice is America's No. 1 sport.
That's why we enjoy completely the plight of liberal-run Detroit.
And
we still pray in Milwaukee, still hold revivals in Tennessee, still do pot-lucks
in Kentucky while firing our guns in harmony.
Just
inform me about the next Bible reading, keep those prayer chains going strong;
'Cause the Cross still stands for truth and goodness, that means our God can't
be wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment