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.
A Spanish-speaking Mexican colleague taught me this term, “pobrecito,” meaning “poor little one.” As I chronicle the VA ineptitudes, failures, criminal behaviors, and abusive actions, I am always conscious of the pobrecito, the poor little one, the poor victim who got harmed. Too often, the victims never receive any compensation, acknowledgment, or retribution, nothing for having become a victim of the VA. Too often, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) investigates long after the abuse has occurred, and the victims are not covered in the scope of the investigation, or worse, the victim was killed, and the family is left to mourn, and nobody can help.
Why chronicle the VA abuses; because the needs to be held accountable, speak the language, and have tougher skin and broader shoulders than the VA’s normal victims. The VA is slowly learning they can harm me, but they cannot shut me up! I will not stop fighting the VA for humane treatment, honorable service, and dedicated systems. The VA is sick because apathy and inertia were allowed to replace common sense and decency, leadership was replaced with cost accounting and bureaucratic red tape, and human kindness was eradicated and replaced with drones and robots. I know how to make the VA better; I do not have all the answers, but I know how to launch the revolution and begin cleaning the VA, and I will not stop calling upon those responsible for fixing the mess they created!
Let’s admit a truth for certain; COVID has been a farrago of gargantuan size from day 1. In acknowledging this, no blame is being proportioned to the front-line workers in any way, shape, or form. But, the administrators, policymakers, politicians, and government bureaucrats have certainly proved they could unscrew the inscrutable! Worse, the bureaucrats proved that their idiocy was highly contagious, infecting more people than COVID, spreading faster than COVID, and killing more people than COVID. Our proof of this concept arrives from 
Before continuing, we must pause and take a moment to send heartfelt congratulations to two VA Health Care Systems (VAHCS) who passed their comprehensive healthcare inspections (CHIp), if not with flying colors with significant improvement, and are deserving of the highest praise. Would the leaders of the Fort Harrison VAHCS in Montana and the Western Colorado VAHCS in Grand Junction please stand and take a bow. Your improvements, conduct, and capacity to achieve reflect that success is possible with good leadership. Keep up the good work; find ways to improve daily, and may continual success be ever yours!
Why? Why are victims left to rot, the assaulters and victimizers promoted, and the VA as an organization left in the hands of disreputable, dishonest, unethical, and immoral people? Why is the VA a culture of corruption, greed, envy, sloth, and disinterest when the US military is the exact opposite? America is not what is found in the halls of the VA, why has the VA been allowed to become something anathema to the American people?
Is the distinction clear? A right cannot be stripped from you by anyone, ever unless you choose to deny your inalienable rights to that particular right. For example, the 
In most societies, you can purchase and legally become the owner of an item due to the purchase. Thus, liberty allows you to become free to use that purchase however you desire. Until the use of that purchase interferes with someone else’s inalienable rights. For example purchase of a baseball bat is legal, mostly around the world. Use that baseball bat for its intended purposes, i.e., to play baseball or softball, and the government does not infringe upon your liberties. Use that baseball bat outside its intended purposes, to break windows, cause injuries or property damage, and you can lose your liberty and your property.
Thus the confusion and complication in defining and detailing liberties. Liberties can be taken and refused; liberties can be eliminated by government force and social changes. Liberties are not inalienable rights or even a right. You do not have a right to liberty. You may pursue happiness, but achieving happiness is not a right, freedom, or liberty.
Civil liberties are freedoms you pay the government to enjoy. For example, driving a car requires a license. By issuing licenses, the government can control the population, even though driving is considered a privilege, a right, and is often confused with “freedom of the open road,” which is two lies for the price one. Another example is 
Freedoms are often defined as political independence, which is fine insofar as civil liberties are concerned. Freedoms entail several other qualities that the government cannot give, take, invent, or delete. True freedoms do not need legal support from case law to be enjoyed. True freedoms include living without restraints, acting without control or interference, and not being bound by conventions, rules, and authorities. It cannot be stressed enough, even though liberties and freedoms share some components, they are merely similar, not identical. In trying to push liberty and freedom as equivalent, the tyranny of language is discovered to sunshine disinfectant. A right, especially those inalienable rights, are not freedoms or liberties to be granted and removed at the power of authority, and the distinction should be clear.
It has been said that my freedom of speech ends where your nose begins. Thus, I cannot exercise my freedom of speech through physical violence, or I lose my right to speak and, more likely, some freedom and property as well. Thus, the role of responsibility begins with knowing the extent of and limitations formed around rights, freedoms, liberties, and privileges, for ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Our responsibility of living in society is to know the rules that form the laws and the social constraints of that society.
Rights, especially inalienable rights, are yours as provided by a higher power than the government. Liberties are the power to act without constraint, provided your exercise of liberty does not infringe upon the inalienable rights of another. Freedoms rest upon political independence, something feared by every bureaucrat and power-mad politician in history. Privileges are permissions granted by a higher authority to conduct business or fulfill a purpose. Civil liberties are not liberties, but privileges can be taken away by authorities and social changes. Regardless, the role of responsibility is inseparably connected to rights, liberties, freedoms, and privileges. One day, accountability will be demanded for the responsibilities connected to how a person used their liberties, freedoms, rights, and privileges.
Padmé in “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” makes a powerful statement about the galactic war being fought, “This war represents a failure to listen.” While Padmé insists that diplomacy is required, this is incorrect. Diplomacy is the political game of charades, with smoke and mirrors of intelligence games. Diplomacy fails because each sides agenda is more important than the words being spoken, which is why so much of the work done in diplomatic circles is done in “informal settings.” Diplomacy fails to listen.
The Russians thought diplomacy was the appropriate approach to Nazi Germany; and Nazi Germany made the Russians pay in blood for the failure of the government to listen. Even though history has regularly taught the Russians not to engage in diplomatic solutions with Germans. This was hardly the first fight between Germany and Russian troops and governments. Failure to listen, and the citizens suffered tremendously to overthrow both Nazi Germany and then the chains of Communism.
How many families cannot have a meal without choices of lifestyle and hostility ending conversation over a failure to listen? Can a Chicago Bears Family survive long with a fan from Minnesota or Wisconsin? What about the other choices people make in their lives, religious flavor versus another religious flavor; this simple line has been destroying nations since history began being recorded. What do we see in the Old Testament; governments repeatedly failing because they stopped listening.
Why did Anakin stop being a Jedi; he stopped listening, then he selectively listened, he began acting as a terrorist, and then he became Darth Vader. This plot line of refusing to listen is so prevalent and obvious because humans continue to make the same mistake. When we stop listening to each other, we stop talking; when we stop talking, we become overwhelmed by our own echo-chambers, and create the chaos that ultimately destroys our lives, our dreams, and our futures until we begin to lay aside petty differences and listen to each other again.
Listening appreciatively is reflective listening, where we commit to listening with the intent to achieve mutual understanding. Essentially, to improve government we must listen first with the intent to reach mutual understanding, before we ever open our mouths to speak.
Listening is a choice. Listening is hard. Yet, many people have pointed out that we have two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as often as we speak. Choose to reflectively listen, choose to reach a mutual understanding, watch society change. It has been said that the US Constitution will hang by a thread, rule of law and the American Republic hang upon our decisions to listen appreciatively to each other and to stop allowing petty divisions to destroy ourselves, our families, and our American society.
DNC-Consulting 