Many pundits have made the following statement, in one form or another, driving a car is the ultimate expression of freedom in America. Yet, your freedom to drive a vehicle is endangered by the political left and the neo-socialists who want to steal and destroy your freedoms. Mention economics, and most people’s eyes gloss over, brains disconnect, and they hope the pain will end shortly. Please, fight this impulse. I will attempt to make a highly complex topic simple and easily understood. While I might not get all the specific details correct, I aim to communicate economics to a general audience that is free and empowered to further research the topics for themselves. My links are reflected in the article for more information.
Money was discussed in a previous article and found here. In simple terms, money is the tool used to transfer goods from one entity to another, showing a legal purchase was made to change ownership, hence opening the first crucial role of money, legally transferring ownership of goods and services from one person to another. Unfortunately, legal ownership transference is where the government exercises its first controls, regulating cross-border commerce. When the government went on a growth spurt in the 1930s, ballooning into the behemoth, we have right now, the government used the excuse of maintaining cross-border commerce to steal products grown by farmers, regulate prices, and set up means and methods to ensure the government was the only winner.
The 1930 legal battles that wound up in the United States Supreme Court over price controls saw the citizen’s first attempt to reign in the government and failed miserably. Worse, these first moves by the citizen were the first exchanges in an economic war that has raged ever since—money stores value. Think of the money found when you do laundry. You have no idea how long that money was lost, but the value of the money has not changed, you presume, and you celebrate finding the money. Except, the value of that money has changed through inflation, and the government’s hidden tax (inflation) has robbed you of value.
Let’s say you found $20 in the laundry. When you first lost that $20 bill, it had more value, e.g., you could purchase more with that money than you can now. Sure, the value printed on the money still has $20 worth of goods or services, but the cost of those goods and services went up, restricting your ability to purchase. Hence the economic warfare being waged by your government. The government essentially said we would not worry about inflation. Meaning they will devalue the money you hold for their own political purposes.
An idea was floated by an economically challenged person to print a $5 trillion bill and use this to pay off the Chinese debt. The problem is the devaluation of the money printed will capsize American citizens due to the hidden taxes of inflation. Making that $5 trillion bill or bills would devalue the dollar and crash the American economy. The stored value in the printed bill would not stand up to and be accepted, as a medium of stored value sufficient to pay the debts incurred. Is the problem more clear; when money is printed, each dollar, pound, euro, etc., devalues the stored purchasing power of the money you currently hold in hand.
Stored value is the second tool for waging economic warfare by the government against its citizens. Consider all the money printed to pay for the supposed Coronavirus Tax Relief and Economic Impact Payments the world’s governments made to their citizens. If you had $100,000 in savings when these monies were printed, your savings were devalued by the inflation rate, which is currently at a 40-year high in America. The government is reporting inflation at 7.9%, so your $100,000 in savings lost the equivalent of $7900. But, the government does not ever report inflation at the actual level, and the actual level of inflation is ranged between 8% and 45% depending upon the purpose or product you are trying to purchase. Meaning your $100,000 could have a value of $92,000 to $55,000 in real value. A hefty tax indeed!
Stored value, the number printed on different bill faces of currency, is static. The actual value, e.g., the number of goods and services purchasable, is not fixed, and the government allows an annual inflation rate of 2% as “normal and acceptable.” Thus, your $1 will have a purchasing power of $0.98, which is compounded year-over-year. Thus, over a decade, that 2% inflation rate is now reducing your $1 to $0.80. Multiply that for the $100,000 and a decade of saving, receiving interest that does not equal inflation to compensate means your money in your savings account has lost $20,000, just from the government allowing inflation at 2% annual growth. Let’s say your bank is generous for savings account holders and provides a published interest rate of 3%, subtract the inflation taxes of 2%, and you are only earning 1% interest on your money. Is this the bank’s fault or the government’s?
Do you see how the government is robbing you through economics? Your 5% raise is only 3% once the inflation devaluation has been factored into your budget. Play the lottery; the taxes alone might kill you, but the devaluation of the money reduces the actual purchasing power of your winnings. If you do not understand the economic warfare being waged against you by your government, you will lose more than you ever gained in winning the lottery. Yet another reason why lotteries are a tax on stupid people, for even when you win, you lose!
Cash has another problem beyond inflation, money supply. The money supply is the technical term for ensuring banks can replace worn-out, ripped, and damaged money. Money supply plays a role in how much money your local store has on hand to provide change and cashback to customers. For employers who pay employees in cash, the money supply is a significant problem with extremely high costs. The government regulates those costs and passes them onto consumers through banks and lending institutions. Are you struggling to get a loan; this is another by-product of money supply woes. Paying higher fees to change money to another currency for your trip is another money supply product. Money supply remains another weapon of the government to affect economic warfare, and many people do not understand this principle, making the government’s policies more effective.
Have you noticed the decline in the availability of $10 dollar bills? I asked for two $10.00 bills when I broke a $20.00 at a Walmart recently, I was denied because Walmart has instituted a policy to only accept $10.00 bills, not give them. Albertson’s, Staples, the in-store bank in Walmart, and the local credit union, all have a similar policy. What is the government doing forcing a reduction in $10.00 bills in circulation? In researching this single policy, I can find no written information on this issue; yet the evidence is clear, there is a manual currency reduction in process and the government needs to explain why.
Before 1980, the basic money supply was measured as the sum of currency in circulation, e.g., cash, traveler’s checks, and checkable deposits. Currency serves the medium-of-exchange function but denies people any interest earnings. However, as discussed, interest earnings are not all they are cracked up to be due to inflation. Cash under a mattress, lost in pockets of clothes, stuck in a book in your library is black money; it is as dead as yesterday’s fish and constantly devalued by inflation. The money supply tries to regulate the cash on hand to lend as a tool to protect your money from inflation. Except, the government constantly allows a 2% inflation rate, negating a lot of savings accounts and other interest-earning propositions.
Want a new car, consolidate your credit card debt, or try to buy a house; all of these loan products are an extension of the money supply and the regulation of money supply by the government. Important to note that your credit cards and bank-issued or employer-issued debit cards are not affected by the money supply, and this is another reason why credit cards and debit cards are so dangerous. These tools are agreements between you and the issuer, where money is transferred when the tool is used, and the consumer is responsible for all the fees the government insists upon to help pay for the money supply.
Conclusion
In waging economic warfare, it remains imperative to know about economics, identifying what money is, its role, and the fiduciary controls the government exerts to attack its citizens. Some may call my language inflammatory, but tell me, do the inflationary costs right now not feel like your taxes have skyrocketed? Inflation is a hidden tax, a tax fully controlled by the government, and the value of your money decreases yearly because the government says 2% inflation is acceptable. Who made this decision, an unconstitutional entity called the Federal Reserve Bank. Since its inception, Congress has tried to obtain transparency and accountability from the Federal Reserve Bank to no avail. Do you understand why I take umbrage with the Federal Reserve Bank?
The governors of the Federal Reserve Bank decided your money could be taxed at 2% inflation annually as a normal condition of doing business. These people set the interest rates you pay for your credit cards and are not paid for your savings accounts. Looking into the history of interest rates since 1900, there is always volatility; the Federal Reserve’s actions have since the 1980s to not allow savings rates over 5%. When adjusted for inflation, that’s a 3% interest rate for those trying to save money. What does this mean; fewer people are saving money. Look where those trying to beat the 3% have invested their money, the stock market, where volatility is a minute-to-minute occurrence, higher risks against less interest, where your money remains subject to taxes, fees hiding other taxes, government fingers, and inflation.
Your government did that to wage economic warfare against you, to empower them to steal your rights, freedoms, and liberties. There is no other way to describe what is happening globally in all governments. China plays games with the value of its currency to power trade deficits. This, in turn, changes prices and increases costs. These actions are taken to “compete,” when in reality, the activities cover massive debt problems in China. If the CCP cannot keep the tap turned wide open on trade deficits, their money supply drys up, and debts come due in a bankrupting tsunami!
The European Union has never been fiscally sound because the various members of the European Union are taking advantage of the productive members to cover the costs of the fiscally useless members. France cannot survive as a country without the European Union’s largesse; Greece, Portugal, and several other countries are all in the same boat. Their governments did this intentionally as political games to stay in power. When these countries run out of other people’s money, they will be forced to change socially, and the tsunami of debt to the World Bank and other nations will not be pretty.
Economics drives these problems mainly due to the lack of knowledge of the lines of congruence between economics and the psychology of governing. The enemies of freedom understand economics, and this is why these tools have been so successful in waging war and stealing freedom, rights, and liberties through monetary policy. Until we, the rightful owners of government, understand what is happening, we will all be at the whims of our enemies.
© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.
Total social regulation costs for 1997 were $198 billion. Please note that this total does not include costs of regulations that totaled less than $100 million or regulations from independent agencies. There is a possibility that some agencies might have underestimated the costs of their rules. Thus, the $198 Billion is a guess, and the end total is probably much higher. Moreover, the estimate of $198 Billion is based upon educated guesswork performed and accepted by academics, legislation, and other banking regulations. Not included in the costs of regulation are the simple transfer costs of money inside the banking system itself, as these are not considered as costs of regulation.
The point is elementary; those who think they have power, bureaucrats in government employ, consider themselves authoritarians. These authoritarians have presumed to possess the audacity to control how they spend your money because their bosses have allowed them leniency through laziness and disinterest. Through a lack of scrutiny, the bureaucrat has become fat on power and must be placed upon a diet if a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” is to survive. Are you more aware of the problem? What will you do today and tomorrow to help fix the problem?
Afghanistan and the fraudulent President Biden have had me thinking about the Walmart effect over the last three days or so, and I cannot help but think there are some lessons to be discussed. More to the point, the lines of congruence between the Walmart effect and the current political situation possess the potential for correcting course and saving America. Not just America, but representative governments worldwide. The Walmart effect is a global pandemic more powerful and pernicious than COVID ever will be, and we need to at least recognize this truth.
Walmart has always competed on price. As if there was nothing else to compete upon. Lowest prices, regardless of the junk sold, price mattered more. Hammer the price to nothing in every aspect of the supply chain. Hammer the costs of doing business to lower costs to consumers. Cheapen and eliminate packaging, “helping the environment,” and reduce costs. Force suppliers and vendors to absorb traditional costs stores assumed, lowers costs, and increase profit margins. Everything in the Walmart model is about lowering consumer costs, and Walmart has been very successful at twisting arms and breaking heads to reduce costs.
Second, quality and service have disappeared in competition. Safeway, as a grocery store, has excellent service; but they cannot compete on service and quality because the Walmart effect has changed these two adjectives to be synonymous with higher consumer costs. Believe it or not, the grocery store model has not changed in the last 200 years. Walmart changed society to believe everything was about competing on consumer costs, and the rest of the competition has played along. Want to know a secret, you as a consumer are being deceived into believing that Walmart has the best prices, but when quality is added to the picture, Walmart is selling you junk.
On the third point in the Walmart effect, politicians spend enormous amounts of effort to use marketing science to play upon emotions to get and keep an audience. The same marketing science employed to keep you in a retailer making purchases keeps you “connected” to your political party. Worse, because there are familial traditions in being one political party or another, there remain tighter ties to a political party. These strings are played to the fullest to bind you ever tighter, so you do not use conscious thinking when voting the party line.
In 2019, 
Did you know that the Federal Government allows 
Josiah Quincy
Please note, the federal deficit, state deficits, pension crisis, student loan debt crisis, and interest are not included in the numbers quoted below. The following information comes directly from the Tax Foundation (linked above):
I have read economic reports from noted minds in economics that claim had the dollar not been loosed from the ties to the gold standard, America could not have produced the tools needed to win WWII. To which I continue to claim, as Colonel Potter from M*A*S*H so aptly stated, “HORSE HOCKEY! and BULL COOKIES!” Having Congress issuing massive letters of credit, borrowing tremendous sums of money, and the economic fallout remains a millstone about the financial neck of this country. How much longer will Americans pay for debts created during WWII? What about the ever-increasing debt burden and interest that is driving prices and taxes ever upwards?
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I find the following ironic; the Federal Gasoline Excise Tax is actually two taxes combined. $0.01 per gallon is paid as the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) fee. Why is this ironic; because the government LUSTs after all types of money to misappropriate. Before creating acronyms, one would think that the government would consider how much of a joke those acronyms will make. One of the seven deadly sins that are constantly causing scandals for politicians, LUST! Yes, I find this tax acronym very ironic and applicable to the discussion on why the roads and other infrastructure is rated as a C- and falling. I find LUST very appropriate to the discussion on the misappropriation of funds and how the government wants to increase taxes to pay for something already well funded but where the money is consistently diverted.
Please note that each state will have additional taxes, fees, surcharges, and tax projects built into the cost of a gallon of gas or diesel, aviation, or propane. Fuel taxes are a tax scheme that seems to always pay for anything but roads, bridges, and infrastructure. Some basic facts regarding gas taxes:
Fuel taxes
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Now, the Federal Government has a bunch of fuel taxes and surcharges (taxes called a fee) about to expire. The question every voter in America needs to ask themselves is this, “Did the government properly use the funds dedicated to infrastructure?” If so, then the fuel taxes should continue at the Federal level. If not, then the fuel taxes should cease, for the government refuses to spend money according to the purpose it was collected. Every single state in the union should be asking the same question and answering accordingly.
Hence the reason why fuel taxes are considered a tax scheme! If you pass the buck enough, nothing gets done, and the money collected can be used in other projects while responsibility is determined. Except, there is no money to fix the problem when the responsibility is determined, and the wheel just keeps spinning around. Are you sick and tired of the games politicians play, yet? Now, imagine your electric bill going up to pay for the fuel taxes not paid for by electric car owners, and tell me about proper government action and accountability. My friend could not sue because responsibility cannot be determined; his insurance would not pay for the damages because the road damaged his vehicle; guess who was out almost $10,000.
Some states are changing how the gasoline and other fuel taxes, including electricity due to the rise in electric vehicles on the road, are being priced and collected. However, the problem is not the tax; it’s the fact that the tax never pays for what it was intended to when collected. Some states got an increase in fuel taxes through their state legislatures this year. Other states and the Federal Government are taking fuel taxes up in the coming months or the next legislating session. But, not a single politician, anywhere in America, has stepped up to state the obvious, the current taxes collected are sufficient to pay for roads and bridges; we have to allocate more of the current money collected to roads and bridges.
Is the problem apparent? How many of your state taxes, lotteries, and other fees are supposed to pay for education? Yet, education always seems never to have enough money. How many taxes and fees go into the Department of Motor Vehicles and Department of Transportation, all of which are supposed to pay for infrastructure, e.g., roads, tunnels, bridges, overpasses, highways, etc.? How much is the pension crisis costing your state, driving taxes and fees upwards, but the money never is delivered to pay down and lessen the pension crisis?
We must tie political decisions to misappropriate funds to the legislators and executives making the decisions. Thus, holding accountable the people who are being poor managers of the people’s money. More importantly, when re-election decisions are made, the media, the influencers, and the political parties need to report this information. Being able to hide funding shenanigans and criminal activities should never occur; businesses cannot do this, the government should not be able to do this. Audits, investigations, and transparency are critical to putting the right people out of office and into prison, and keeping the honest and faithful stewards in office and working.
As sure as carts to horses and ducks to water, a Federal tax, fee, or surcharge, will be found shortly on your 
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