The more things change, the more they stay the same, say the French. And it would certainly seem so, as we regard the economic consequences of what amounts to a modern rehash of the old Mercantilism of King Louis XIV and his ministers, Cardinal Richelieu and the Bureaucrat-extraordinaire, Colbert. For modern America differs very little from that ancient economic tyranny that existed in France under the “Sun King”. True, the poor and indolent are no longer whipped, or sent off to the galleys. Habitual drunks are no longer put into pillory. But the effects of what amounts to a vast system of Mercantilism, administered by the Congressional Bipartisan spendthrifts, with the cooperation and collaboration of the FED, and with the cheerleading of Obama’s rhetorical riffs, are virtually the same on the poor and middle class: unceasing toil to cope with higher taxes and loss of purchasing power, and the soon coming tsunami of inflation. This inflation will be caused by the ridiculous and completely irresponsible massive spending increases, designed to make sure that all the wealthy corporate interests, and the vested interests of the lobbyists and the Congressmen themselves, who in many cases are wealthy, and have substantial estates, are not affected by the current financial disinflation. (And please note, a disinflation differs from a deflation, in that it is a slowdown in the rate of inflation, not an across the board lowering of prices in virtually every commodity and service.)
Meanwhile, across the pond, we see the spoiled brats of the Left having their “feel-good” marches in London, and Europe. Silverwolf made the sickening mistake of tuning in to the BBC, to listen to its in-house panel discussion on the G20 meeting and the current economic crisis, before a roomful of British humans. It was the usual gallimaufry of misguided economic claptrap one hears virtually everywhere, except at the Mises Institute, in the economic statements and opinions of Congressman Ron Paul, and in the political agenda of the Libertarian Party. Of course, they blamed “the bankers”, who after all were only exploiting the system which the US Congress, and the legislatures of Europe, had set up decades ago. They blamed that vague thing called “greed”, though Silverwolf notes that they never seem to blame a poor person or a spendthrift who is skint because they have spend all their money on some greedy pursuit, be it gambling, drugs, overeating, constant vacations, or what you will. Why is it not “greedy”, to be greedy for tobacco or food, or good times? Are not the unions greedy when they demand more than their labour is worth, while their restrictionist minimum wage laws cut out labour competition, enabling them to secure those above-market wage rates at the expense of the non-union worker? Moreover, we know that the call for “full employment” is really a call for universal slavery, by the expedient of constant inflation and crushing taxations, both for income and “retirement”, which means that what the worker can manage to save in the bank after all these government excisions is never secure, because the FED, or the Bank of England, or whatever group of government professional inflationists you name, can destroy the value of the worker’s savings virtually overnight, though they do it through a constant but steady erosion of the purchasing power of fiat currency, helped along by sudden spurts they euphemistically call “blips”. So it is not surprising that the “Leftist intellectuals” call for “full employment”; not only do they have a cockroach’s intellectual understanding of economics, they also need their fellow men to be paying into the tax-welfare system to bring in the funds they live off of on their “grants” and “doles”, and “unemployment” and “disability”. But, of course, many of the journalists and presenters at the BEEB, as well as its horrendous American counterpart, National Public Radio, would be in the dole line permanently if not for their guaranteed income from the State.
Yet, in that whole BBC audience, there was not one voice that said, “This chaos is caused by Socialism itself, and the system of Central Banks that can rock the value of the money up and down at will on a daily basis. It is because of the regulation of the money supply by a Mercantilist economic system, instead of a Free-Market Capitalist system, that is at the root of the problem.” It is when one listens to the drivel that comes out of these well-intentioned protesters, that one realises why the world is in such an economic mess. And the mess, for these people, has not lead to one iota of economic insight. It’s still time for feel-good marches, sloganeering, and “Eat the Bankers” inciting to riot. Howzabout “Eat the Spendthrifts and Inflationists”?
Fortunately, there is a large sector of the American and European public who are very sceptical of Sun-King Obama XIV’s Mercantilist plan for America, and his “forgot to pay my taxes” Chief Minister, Cardinal Geithner. They realise that they have two incompetent nincompoops at the head of the world’s largest economy, and they are voting with their dollars and with their trades to protect themselves against the mad inflationists. Many of them are probably well-intentioned Milton Friedmanite Republicans, that strange combination of half-Socialism/half-Capitalism that mesmerizes itself into thinking it is pragmatic Capitalism, with some “safeguards”. But the current mess shows that there are no safeguards against the ultimate collapse inherent in Socialism, save to invest in inflation hedges (why do they grow so tall?). And even that is a tricky business, because when the money value is at the whim of a board of inflationists (the Central Banks, and chiefly the US FED) it becomes very hard to judge the value of fiat currency, or the velocity of inflation. Backing the money with an asset like a metal, or even a basket of commodities, at least gives a yardstick of measurement, rather than whatever whimsical thought may be passing through Bernanke or Trichet or Obama or Geithner’s brain in the next hour.
People across America and the EU should speak out and demand an end to Mercantilism, to State Socialism for Corporations at the expense of Individual Capitalism, and the slave labor regimes it sets up to keep itself in luxury.
When Cardinal Richelieu took office, his official salary was 25,000 livres per annum. When he ended his career, his income stood at 3 million livres a year. Ah, Mercatilism!
Hoooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww! — Silverwolf
Silverwolf:The Lobo Breed 