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In 1781, the people of the United States were struggling with the monetary system. In their desire to find a solution, they took thirteen small problems and transformed them into one huge problem. They never solved the original problem, they just made it bigger.
Since then, the union under the Constitution has grown to fifty states and many territories, quadrupling the scope of the original problem, and the population has grown to 301 million.
The original problem appeared to be trust of the currency, but this interpretation is based on emotions, not math. The trust of one another in trade, and the challenge of “valuing” the worth of goods, property, and services are all driven by fear and the mutual desire to “buy low, sell high.” While money was created to act as a form of barter to allow us to cooperate, the National Debt is best understood as a mathematical phenomenon triggered by our original mutual paranoia. We will not be free until we conquer our fears.
The cycles of boom and bust, and the constant pressure of inflation, are all mathematical phenomenons. To create a pricing equilibrium, and a constantly rising standard of living, then we need to understand what is occurring mathematically.
Our taxes, like the King’s taxes, are a symptom of a cascade of events. Currently we have three FORMS of taxation: Property Tax, Sales Tax and Income Tax. Taken together, you are taxed when you earn money, when you spend money, and for owning what you purchased. There are too many forms of taxation; at best, we should have only one type of tax, and tax only once.
Inflation is caused by taxation. The more the government taxes the people, the more the people need profit so they can pay their taxes. The government is the largest employer, the largest buyer, and the largest debtor simultaneously. Government is a victim of its own geometric progression, which started when it coined, taxed and spent its first penny. Just as an oak grows from an acorn, all our problems started from the first penny.
Reform is not going to come from above, it must start at the State and Local level of government, and with you. The best way to raise the standard of living is to lower the cost of living. To reverse inflation, we must change how we handle money, and set new standards for commerce and taxation. The final consumer of a good pays all the profits of whoever touched the good previously. The good is consumed, but not its mathematical echo, it gets passed on to wherever the money came from originally.
We all need trade to survive. Trade is good. How we trade is more important than the currency we use. The growth of the financial services industry is a mirror reflection of the National Debt. Moving numbers on paper is not a productive activity. We are a nation of Scrooge’s and Cratchit’s, and are producing goods so we can throw them away, all in a vain attempt to satisfy numbers which will grow to infinity, if we allow them to continue.
The Money Chase will always be won by inflation, and not by the people. Everybody can afford zero; nobody can afford inflation. We have machines under our command, but not under our control, as layoffs, forclosures, and failures constantly ripple through the economy. The economy is a zero-sum game. We need to respect this fact, not ignore it.
Things can only get better or worse. What happens next depends entirely on what you choose. When the good times are hyper the next failure is as deep. The Roaring 20’s led to the Great Depression and global war. The stakes are very high. We gamble with the blood of our children and grandchildren.
Boom and Bust are intimately related, whereas every renaissance has occurred during a pricing equilibrium. Slow and steady can be either a crushing weight or a growing harvest. Less is more. Simplify! Simplify!
Please VOTE on September 16th on the Democratic ballot and again on November 4th!