Christian: n,

A person who believes in Jesus Christ, God incarnate who came to Earth and became flesh to die on the cross, sinless for our redemption.

libertarian: n,

"A person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

-- L. Neil Smith

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Flexability in Mediums of Trade

As I write this today, the US Federal Reserve Bank continues its printing of fiat currency. Even with the recession setting in and the depression looming, they are recklessly printing the US economy deeper into trouble. The value of one US Federal Reserve Note is just a tiny fraction of what it once was, best illustrated by the number of US Federal Reserve Notes required today to purchase a one ounce $20 gold coin. Every empire built has eventually collapsed under the weight of its own fiscal policies. Just as Rome collapsed trying to finance its empire by debasing the coins of its day, the US will be driven to ruin by the Fed’s printing of US currency. Many foreign countries have seen the writing on the wall and have begun to break their ties to trade in US currency. This lack of faith will decrease the demand for US currency, and further the imbalance of supply and demand for those notes. As demand weakens, value decreases even more. Like mice driven by the Pied Piper’s melody, the population of the US will continue to trade in US dollars right up to the cliff from which they’ll fall to their economic demise. Only those who have been prepared for this eventuality will survive.

Individuals and companies who have taken the steps necessary to make themselves flexible by learning to facilitate trade in other mediums will be affected less by the collapse of the dollar, than those who have continued their dependence on it.

Neither the Federal Reserve Bank nor the US federal government will be willing to do what’s necessary to stop the impending crash. It is their misguided handling which has brought us to this point. It will be up to smart individuals and companies, who are willing to begin the weaning process, to break the inflation/deflation cycle caused by dependence on an unstable medium of exchange. We must begin to picture the value of the goods and services provided against the value of other goods and services based on a fixed, or at least more stable reference point rather than tying them to the arbitrary value of the Fed’s counterfeit money.

Large companies have the technology and knowledge in hand to make such a transition possible, smooth and painless. In house computers and registers can easily have programs built in which could match the value the company places on its goods and services to a fixed reference point. For example, one pair of Champion tennis shoes, Style CW2005D would equal one twentieth of one ounce of gold. Those relatively fixed values could then be converted to the fluctuating values of various currencies. Consumers would then be given the option of their preferred payment method. The old days of, “Will that be cash or charge?” would be replaced by, “Will that be gold, Yen or Euros?” Most US consumers would still prefer to trade in US Federal Reserve Notes and of course the monopoly granted to the Fed by legal tender legislation would make it illegal to refuse payment in FRNs, but the ability of consumers to trade in other mediums could make the average person much more knowledgeable about the nature of money and would help to return the stability to the market which we have lost through the Fed’s tampering.

The fact is that the value of goods and services relative to each other has changed very little. That which has, on the other hand, fluctuated and steadily depreciated, has been the value of the US Federal Reserve Notes. Those who understand this simple equation will have the greatest chance of survival when the value of one FRN finally hits 0.

2 comments:

  1. Is it legal to offer one's employees the choice of payment in gold, in whole or in part? If there were any significant portion of people who were paid in gold and had their income in that form, then there would be a market pressure for companies to accept payment in gold. Barring that, how would we persuade businesses to begin accepting payment in gold?

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  2. I'd have to do some research to give you a 100% honest answer to the legal aspect. However, I believe Congressman Ron Paul introduced legislation to reinstate gold as legal tender in the US. I also read an article a few moths back about a Nevada businessman who is paying his employees in gold. What's funny is that a 1 ounce American Eagle gold coin, has a denomination of $50 stamped on it but is roughly equivalent to 900 Federal Reserve Notes. So as far as the IRS forms are concerned he pays his employees $50 a week. I'd have to go back and do the research again, but that's what my feeble brain remembers. Persuading businesses to use gold might be easier than retraining individuals to. As the value of the FRNs continue to drop businesses will want to trade in something which sustains its value instead. But all us poor publicly schooled monkeys might have a hard time prying our brains away from that which we've been used to for so long. Those who learn to do so first will be better off than the slow learners left holding toilet paper with pictures of presidents on it.

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