Vox Day - We are out of money
May 31, 2009
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Vox Day has a good write up here:
We are out of money
Steve Scully, C-Span: You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?
Obama: Well, we are out of money now.
The United States has been an empire in decline since the 1970s. As has been the case with every other declining world power in history, there are a variety of reasons for this decline, which is why there are no straightforward solutions for reversing it. In looking at the situation, however, it is clear that there are a number of contributing factors that are more important than others. Among them include:
1. The abandonment of constitutional money
2. The expansion of the voting franchise
3. Global military aspirations
4. Transformation of the labor force
5. Mass immigration
According to the U.S Constitution, only "gold and silver Coin" can be tendered by the states in payment of debt. Since the states are explicitly barred from coining money but the federal government is expressly permitted to do so, it is obvious that the only constitutional money is gold and silver coin, regardless of what government employees have subsequently decided. Moreover, unlike the present Federal Reserve notes, constitutional money has held its value; whereas the value of an FRN has lost more than 95 percent of its value in 96 years, the first U.S. silver dollars minted in 1794 have increased in intrinsic value, being worth 11.38 times what they were initially valued 215 years ago. Since its ability to store value is one of the four major properties of money, it's abundantly clear that the abandonment of constitutional money has come at great cost to the nation.
The expansion of the voting franchise has exacerbated the problems created by the switch to a monetary system more susceptible to manipulation. The reason the Founding Fathers created a system of strictly limited democracy was because they knew its historical flaws and wished to prevent the larger part of the masses from having a voice in their governance. The expansion of the franchise to include many parties historically denied the vote has had the inevitable, and expected, effect of permitting society's non-productive members voting themselves the right to obtain wealth transferred from society's productive members. The important point to understand here is not what one might think of the desirability of either equality or wealth redistribution, but rather its long-term sustainability. While history shows that a moderate amount of wealth redistribution is sustainable, it increasingly tends to indicate that democratic equalitarianism rapidly increases that amount to unsustainable levels.
While the global military actions of the United States initially contributed to its post-World War II prosperity, as the destruction of European and Asian manufacturing capacity gifted the U.S. economy with two decades of competitive advantage and expanding markets, since then they have been a serious drain on the nation's coffers as well as a spectacular malinvestment of human and capital resources. The genuine side benefits of defense research fall far short of making up for the decades of opportunity costs they have engendered in terms of wasted talent and investment.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=43&authorId=170&tId=8
MY COMMENT:
IMO, the article is mostly a common sense review of the US decline. It is not new information or a profound disclosure. However, I would guess not 10 in a 100 Americans would be able to discuss the above issues with much depth.
Case in points:
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