Dear Friends,
It seems to me, government money always has strings, and those strings are often more like fly paper. It appears the government is going to “give” us $1,200 each, bailout the airlines, provide loans to business and save the world from the Kung Flu, in an 889 page document, filled with pork, fly paper and wrapped up like a pig in a poke. Governments around the planet and across time have used the public purse to get things done, that otherwise couldn’t get done. Typically, usurpation. Attracted to the sweet looking paper, the people will see the “stimulus” as a life saver. Especially those unfortunate ones put out of work by this panic. What it will end up doing is transferring huge amounts of money from savers and workers to spendthrifts and layabouts.
A pig in a poke is an old adage, that means to buy something you didn’t expect, Caveat Emptor, or buyer beware. We are being sold on this “stimulus package” by the money we will be getting from the government. That sounds great, who doesn’t want money! Like the guy in Idiocracy said, “I like money…” But where is the money coming from that the government is “giving” us? It is either taxed from us, mostly by the payroll tax, else it is printed by the Federal Reserve, then loaned at interest to the government to give to us. Now that first way shows clearly that we are not being given money… but a liability. One we will have to pay back in the future, plus interest, overhead, shipping and handling. The second way, once you understand it, is truly diabolical.
The second way, by printing it, loaning it to a bank then the bank buying government bonds, doesn’t seem so clearly diabolical at first glance. Unless one is aware of economic history. The dollar is a fiat currency, it isn’t backed by gold or silver, it is backed by the full faith of the Federal Reserve, a private company that protects the banks, one that pretends to be a government organization. That means the dollar has elasticity. Unlike a metal backed currency, a fiat currency, like the Greenbacks, of the US revolution, are only based on the number in circulation. To print and buy government bonds is called monetization of debt. It has a long and storied history of destroying nations. There is a story of Wiemar Germany, if you bought a beer, by the time you finished it… the next one was more expensive.
The take and give, or print borrow and give, are both sufficient to prove the pig in a poke allegation, but there is more. All those loans to “help” come with some pretty sticky strings. The nationalization of the airline industry. Any airline that takes out a loan will have to allow Uncle Sam as a silent owner. Since every airline will need loans to stay afloat, voila, The airline industry is nationalized. No muss no fuss. That is some very adhesive tape. Corporations will not be able to buy back shares, (embezzlement as far as I am concerned) or pay dividends, (the only reason to invest in a company if you ask me). Don’t worry though, rest assured, politically favored CEOs will get their bonuses and perks, it will just be the pensioners, IRAs and savers who take the hit, in losing their dividends.
Government never wants to let a crisis go to waste. This one is no exception. The progressive faction will do everything it can to use the panic to limit the power of the people and grow theirs. Remember, there are progressives on both sides of the aisle. The naked power grab of nationalizing the airlines is one step in the direction progressives, and socialists would like to take us. The real prize though is to use this crisis to create the next one. That way there is always another crisis to exploit, so progressives can move the ball down the field, ever closer to utopia. It is a very long shot, since the US dollar is the world’s reserve currency, but hyperinflation is always possible, once people lose faith in their currency, As Germans did in the Mark in the 1930s. Now that is a pig in a poke!
Sincerely,
John Pepin
