More in jest than anything else, I’ve always joked “Gold is God’s money because only God can make it.” The joke is on me if you turn it around and say “He who prints money is God.”
In the interest of full disclosure let me say that the concept of gold being God’s money has been around for a while:
What the Bible Has to Say About … Gold As God’s Money
What the Bible Has to Say About
I dispute those who seek proof in the Bible, or confirmation in the text of any organized religion. God is not the same as organized religion. Books and scrolls were written by men not God. Additionally, every religion since the beginning of time devoted most of its energies to acquiring all of the money in sight. As far as I know —— the Socialist priesthood heading an organized religion are the first to presume God-like status by printing money rather than claiming to be God’s debt collectors.
A stable paper dollar
Once again, “The Highway to hell is paved with good intentions” proves true. When Eugene Debs (1855 - 1926 ), five time Socialist party candidate, and Norman Thomas (1884- 1968 ), six time Socialist party presidential candidate, invented the minimum wage they could not possibly have known that the purchasing power of the dollar would shrink as socialism grew in leaps and bounds after the XVI Amendment was implemented. By the time 1932 rolled around FDR adopted the Socialist party platform. Admitted Socialist or Democrat mattered not. Their brand of socialism did not incorporate a defense against an unstable dollar; so they must have believed that a dollar would buy the same goods and services forever, or at least far into the foreseeable future. They were wrong as the devalued dollar shows.
The best example of a devalued dollar can be seen in the price of apples. One apple sold for 5 cents before WW I. One apple sold for 5 cents throughout the 1920s, and up until WW II ended the Great Depression. Today, one apple sells for as much as a $1.50. The price of one large Red Delicious apple rarely drops below 75 cents in spite of huge farm subsidies.
No modern-day economist would ever suggest doing what is necessary to bring back a stable dollar. Indeed, I doubt if there is an economist anywhere with enough intellect to tackle a constant dollar in relation to the welfare state.
The rubber dollar
I love the rubber dollar for putting Socialists on the up and down escalators at the same time —— taxes on the up escalator, and the purchasing power of the dollar on the down escalator.
There actually were rubber dollars when I was a kid. They were sold in some candy stores as a joke. They were pieces of rubber a bit thicker than the wall of a balloon. They were the exact size of a dollar bill before they were stretched. Those toy rubber dollars were designed to look like a dollar. Kids played with them by stretching them every which way to watch the pictures and print change shape. I’ll bet that they are collectibles now worth much more than a real dollar.
Not surprisingly, the rubber dollar distortion destroyed the minimum wage. When, Debs, Thomas, et al., invented the minimum wage they did so to help those people at the lower end of the workforce. Today’s problem with the original minimum wage is that the concept was based on a stable economy. That is an economy where the purchasing power of the dollar remains constant decade after decade.
NOTE: The minimum wage is a valid tool that can be used to help those at the lowest end of the workforce, BUT ONLY IN CONJUNCTION WITH A STABLE DOLLAR. Present-day government spending defeats the original intent of a minimum wage.
Today’s Socialists place the minimum wage at, or near the top, of socialism’s self-promoting list of good deeds. I fail to understand why it remains a good deed in socialism’s manipulated economy where the dollar has steadily lost purchasing power from the day socialism became a political force in the US.
Here’s the best part of it: The minimum wage has become a thorn in the sides of Democrats, the heirs apparent to Norman Thomas. As Democrats insist on higher taxes and more federal spending the minimum wage becomes harder to defend. Socialists will never be able to reconcile a minimum wage with socialism’s tax and spend demands.
Do Democrats now abandon tax and spend in order to resurrect the relevance of a minimum wage? Or do they abandon the folks at the lowest end of the workforce by disavowing one of socialism’s discredited good deeds? Or do they ratchet up their drive toward a full-fledged Communist state? Or do Socialists hope they can put everyone on the federal payroll; thereby, eliminating the need for a minimum wage?
Oh, drat! I just realized it. A minimum wage will still be required when everyone feeds at the public trough. I reluctantly admit that under communism it might be possible to have a stable economy. I suppose when nobody owns anything, and nobody can buy anything, not even mandatory health insurance, that will bring back a stable economy of sorts. Of course, we had individual liberties and a constant dollar under laissez faire capitalism; so why do we need socialism/communism to bring us to a stable economy in such a roundabout fashion?
Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh analyzes the declining buying power of the dollar. She includes this about gold:
And this:
Gold was refined from sea water by a French company in the 1930s, but the process proved too expensive. Here’s the thing about gold in today’s world.
Let’s say that it takes one barrel of oil to produce enough energy to recover one ounce of gold from sea water and refine it into ingot form. Do the math. Putting a barrel of oil at $100 means that an ounce of gold can be sold for approximately 15 times more than it cost to recover and refine. That’s a nice markup in anybody’s store.
Here’s the link to a great piece:
How much is the U.S. dollar worth?
Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh Thursday, March 29, 2012
How much is the U.S. dollar worth?
In the interest of full disclosure let me say that the concept of gold being God’s money has been around for a while:
What the Bible Has to Say About … Gold As God’s Money
What the Bible Has to Say About
I dispute those who seek proof in the Bible, or confirmation in the text of any organized religion. God is not the same as organized religion. Books and scrolls were written by men not God. Additionally, every religion since the beginning of time devoted most of its energies to acquiring all of the money in sight. As far as I know —— the Socialist priesthood heading an organized religion are the first to presume God-like status by printing money rather than claiming to be God’s debt collectors.
A stable paper dollar
Once again, “The Highway to hell is paved with good intentions” proves true. When Eugene Debs (1855 - 1926 ), five time Socialist party candidate, and Norman Thomas (1884- 1968 ), six time Socialist party presidential candidate, invented the minimum wage they could not possibly have known that the purchasing power of the dollar would shrink as socialism grew in leaps and bounds after the XVI Amendment was implemented. By the time 1932 rolled around FDR adopted the Socialist party platform. Admitted Socialist or Democrat mattered not. Their brand of socialism did not incorporate a defense against an unstable dollar; so they must have believed that a dollar would buy the same goods and services forever, or at least far into the foreseeable future. They were wrong as the devalued dollar shows.
The best example of a devalued dollar can be seen in the price of apples. One apple sold for 5 cents before WW I. One apple sold for 5 cents throughout the 1920s, and up until WW II ended the Great Depression. Today, one apple sells for as much as a $1.50. The price of one large Red Delicious apple rarely drops below 75 cents in spite of huge farm subsidies.
No modern-day economist would ever suggest doing what is necessary to bring back a stable dollar. Indeed, I doubt if there is an economist anywhere with enough intellect to tackle a constant dollar in relation to the welfare state.
The rubber dollar
I love the rubber dollar for putting Socialists on the up and down escalators at the same time —— taxes on the up escalator, and the purchasing power of the dollar on the down escalator.
There actually were rubber dollars when I was a kid. They were sold in some candy stores as a joke. They were pieces of rubber a bit thicker than the wall of a balloon. They were the exact size of a dollar bill before they were stretched. Those toy rubber dollars were designed to look like a dollar. Kids played with them by stretching them every which way to watch the pictures and print change shape. I’ll bet that they are collectibles now worth much more than a real dollar.
Not surprisingly, the rubber dollar distortion destroyed the minimum wage. When, Debs, Thomas, et al., invented the minimum wage they did so to help those people at the lower end of the workforce. Today’s problem with the original minimum wage is that the concept was based on a stable economy. That is an economy where the purchasing power of the dollar remains constant decade after decade.
NOTE: The minimum wage is a valid tool that can be used to help those at the lowest end of the workforce, BUT ONLY IN CONJUNCTION WITH A STABLE DOLLAR. Present-day government spending defeats the original intent of a minimum wage.
Today’s Socialists place the minimum wage at, or near the top, of socialism’s self-promoting list of good deeds. I fail to understand why it remains a good deed in socialism’s manipulated economy where the dollar has steadily lost purchasing power from the day socialism became a political force in the US.
Here’s the best part of it: The minimum wage has become a thorn in the sides of Democrats, the heirs apparent to Norman Thomas. As Democrats insist on higher taxes and more federal spending the minimum wage becomes harder to defend. Socialists will never be able to reconcile a minimum wage with socialism’s tax and spend demands.
Do Democrats now abandon tax and spend in order to resurrect the relevance of a minimum wage? Or do they abandon the folks at the lowest end of the workforce by disavowing one of socialism’s discredited good deeds? Or do they ratchet up their drive toward a full-fledged Communist state? Or do Socialists hope they can put everyone on the federal payroll; thereby, eliminating the need for a minimum wage?
Oh, drat! I just realized it. A minimum wage will still be required when everyone feeds at the public trough. I reluctantly admit that under communism it might be possible to have a stable economy. I suppose when nobody owns anything, and nobody can buy anything, not even mandatory health insurance, that will bring back a stable economy of sorts. Of course, we had individual liberties and a constant dollar under laissez faire capitalism; so why do we need socialism/communism to bring us to a stable economy in such a roundabout fashion?
Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh analyzes the declining buying power of the dollar. She includes this about gold:
And this:
Gold was refined from sea water by a French company in the 1930s, but the process proved too expensive. Here’s the thing about gold in today’s world.
Let’s say that it takes one barrel of oil to produce enough energy to recover one ounce of gold from sea water and refine it into ingot form. Do the math. Putting a barrel of oil at $100 means that an ounce of gold can be sold for approximately 15 times more than it cost to recover and refine. That’s a nice markup in anybody’s store.
Here’s the link to a great piece:
How much is the U.S. dollar worth?
Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh Thursday, March 29, 2012
How much is the U.S. dollar worth?
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