Economic Warfare – Your Liberty, Rights, Freedoms are at Risk!

Bobblehead DollMany 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.

What is Money?

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.TOP 25 QUOTES BY JOAN ROBINSON (of 54) | A-Z Quotes

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.Steve Keen Quote: "Economics is too important to leave to the economists." (12 wallpapers ...

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.Economics Funny Quotes. QuotesGram

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?Amartya Sen quote: Economic growth without investment in human development is unsustainable...

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.Mahatma Gandhi quote: Economics that hurt the moral well-being of an individual or...

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.Economy has frequently nothing whatever to... - Quote

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?LIC

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!Milton Friedman: The Most Quotable Economist - Capitalism.com - Create the Change

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.

Knowledge Check!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.

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Cost, Value, and Manufacturing

Does anyone else remember when Walmart was first breaking onto the scene as a competitor against K-Mart, they advertised “Proud to sell ‘Made in the USA’” merchandise?  Then shortly, Walmart faced its first scandal, being busted selling cheap junk boasting “Made in China” on the label.  The “pride” was pushed to the side, the “Made in the USA” disappeared, and the price was all Walmart was going to compete on, “Prices are falling.”  K-Mart is gone, Walmart is still selling, “Prices” are still “supposedly” falling, but where is questionable, quality is all but gone, and who has benefited?

I remember when my town got a Payless shoe store.  I plunked my money down for a nice pair of shoes; they lasted less than 30-days of wear; I was told, “You get what you pay for.”  The next pair of shoes I bought at Walmart turns out they were probably made on the same manufacturing line in China.  Payless sold them for $20.00; Walmart sold them for $30.00.  Neither lasted long enough for the new shoe smell to evaporate.  Payless Shoes is gone, Walmart is still here, the quality has not improved, and I am still asking, who has benefitted?

I purchased some tools the other day; I was mystified at the following label on the tag, “Made in the USA, of parts configured mostly in the USA but manufactured in other countries of origin.”  It turns out, if the assembly of parts is done inside the US, a finished product can be labeled as “Made in the USA.”  If some of the sub-assemblies occur outside the USA, the manufacturer might, or might not, be legally responsible to declare such, depending upon the industry, the finished goods, and the lawyers and labor unions involved.

Country of origin labeling is real sketchy, full of hungry lawyers and fascinating self-interest, as well as enough political grandstanding to satisfy forests of trees being slaughtered for centuries to come.  All in the name of, yes, you guessed it, transparency.  I am oversimplifying the problem here to make a point.  Your child’s pencils in school have to declare Made in China due to some lead poisoning issues in the yellow paint, but crayons can hide the country of origin because a lawyer said the transparency issue does not cause harm.  This convoluted logic is rampant throughout the entire mess of country of origin labeling.  Unfortunately, this is but the tip of the iceberg in manufacturing, cost, and value.

By the way, I guarantee, there are hordes of lawyers plotting ways and means of overturning country of origin labeling to hide or overturn legal decisions they find onerous, mainly to further remove any hint that “Made in China” could be traced to problems with poisoning to China.

Taking us to the first point in this article, when did America stop manufacturing?  Why did America stop manufacturing?  Why did stores stop selling American manufactured goods?  In Home Deport today, I made a point of looking for “Made Proudly in the USA” stickers on tools, products, and other items for sale.  There were no official statistics, no actual counts, just browsing shelves, looking for products, and I was not pleased.  Walmart has long been turned into a proud repository for Chinese manufacturing; to see anything other than “Made in China” on their shelves would be a significant accomplishment.

Having ventured into a Hobby Lobby recently, I was again amazed at the incredibly talented people worldwide and wondered again, “When did America stop manufacturing goods?”  Dollar Tree is another place where Made in China flourishes, and one has to wonder, “Why did stores stop selling American manufactured goods?”

Before anyone jumps to the conclusion that I am China-bashing or Big-Box Bashing, please note that I am sick to death of the excuses that “Manufacturing in America is too expensive to be profitable.”  I detest hearing excuses that “Manufacturers cannot find enough unskilled laborers to work the machines, without illegal labor.”  I am through listening to supposed experts declare that “Americans cannot compete with Chinese labor due to American expectations for benefits, job expectations, the cost of safety, etc.”  The other day some ignorant putz declared that the “American worker is just plain lazy compared to workers even in Europe, which is why Americans can never work fast enough to meet production goals.”

Bringing us to the cost and value topics of this article.  Long have cost accountants and operations managers had a professional love/hate relationship.  We love to hate each other for one reason; we do not see eye to eye on basic fundamental reality.  To a cost accountant, everything has a cost, but the difference between cost and value is not found in green money losses alone unless you are a cost accountant.

We have discussed the different types/colors of money previously.  Green money is cold hard cash, and cost accounting is only, ever, concerned with the end of the day totals of cold hard cash!  However, reality always has other types of money involved, relationships that cannot be qualified in monetary means, and humans are more than dollars and cents in a ledger.  Value is always different than cost.

Simple explanation; a hammer costs your great-grandfather $1.00.  With that hammer, your great-grandfather built a home and a cradle.  That cradle rocked your grandfather, father, and you to sleep.  Upon reaching the age of accountability, each, in turn, was taught how to swing a hammer, driving nails, and learning carpentry.  That hammer holds four generations of value, beyond the cost of $1.00.  Green money costs, that hammer has depreciated in value until it is worthless to the company and should be scrapped for a new hammer; but the value of that hammer is not measured in dollars and cents.  Thus the disconnect between operations and cost accounting.

What does all of this have to do with retail establishments, manufacturing in America, and “Made in China?”  What is the value of manufacturing in America; self-sufficiency in the time of trouble, pride of accomplishment, value in production, and upward economic mobility of dreams for employees. Why does America need retail establishments that will sell “Made in America;” to remind Americans who we are, why we are neighbors and provide an outlet for manufacturing in America to compete.

Ask yourself, why did President Bill Clinton pave the way for China to join the World Trade Organization and actively push to move manufacturing to China?  Why did President Richard Nixon push so hard to “Open China?”  What has been the cost, and where is the value in either or both of these decisions?  Sufficient time has passed to evaluate both of these decisions without political rhetoric and bombastic bloviations from either political extreme.  Both presidents possessed more reasons and desires than they admitted while in office for these decisions and actions; the consequences are the focus, and you can judge the consequences yourself.

Consider cost versus value, consider the toll on hometowns across America where factories lay idle, homes lay vacant, streets lay silent, and poverty is so thick generations of destitution have lived and died in its shadow.  Consider how some towns have tried to restructure themselves and succeeded, others have failed, some shipped their children to schools far away, others have turned their towns into “sleeper communities” for cities 2-6 hours away.  You decide!  Think!  Investigate!  Talk to people laid off by unions and forgotten.  Then remember when politicians discuss taxes, labor union special interest projects, and social spending.  Remember the next time you, a citizen with a brain, are reduced to “Human Infrastructure.”

© Copyright 2021 – 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.

Seriously – Let’s Have the Conversation!

Hillary Clinton is infamous for an explosive remark made in a Congressional Bird of Preyhearing, “At this point, what difference does it make.”  While I genuinely detest quoting this particular person, she has a point where the 2020 Elections are concerned, not a good point, but a point.  At this point, what difference does it make in discussing the 15 Million votes from 2020 that were improperly counted, improperly handled, erroneously scrapped, and treated scandalously?  Will these votes change the fate of Afghanistan; no.  Will these votes remove the fraudulent president; no.  Will these votes correct an abuse of the voter in 2020 and place the real winner of the election into the presidency; no.

What difference “… at this point does it make?”  It changes how we move forward in voting.  It places the onerous upon current sitting politicians to safeguard voting systems, processes, and procedures to ensure this madness never occurs again!  Riddle me this, was COVID hyped and mass-fear spread to allow for voting to be abused to push a useless and senile president into office?  I digress.

Exclamation MarkHence, I would like to open the conversation into improving voting in America.  It is long past time for common sense voting safeguards to be installed and mandated at the local levels of government.  Here are my suggestions, let us use logic and discern the best path forward for America.

      1. Refuse the Federal Government legislation being pushed in the US House right now, the “For the People” Acts to demand a “Federal Government Mandate” for voting. Let’s be frank; the Federal Government could not handle collecting Social Security taxes from payroll and keeping that funded.  Do you really think they could handle something simpler, like voting?
      2. Eliminate the computers! I am done being some byte that a programmer can manipulate.  End the charade, open the transparency, and stop using vote computers.  A paper ballot is perfect!
      3. The paper ballot should carry a digital signature containing my picture in digital form and my digital signature, as verified by my government-issued ID. Don’t drive; that’s okay; you still need a government-issued ID to purchase alcohol, tobacco, firearms, take a plane trip, and a hundred and one other things.  The DMV can issue you an ID.  One ballot, one ID, one signature, one person, not hard to count, not hard to track, and no problems with security.  The technology has been around for 20 years to take and print a digital fingerprint; it is past time to combine a bio-metric tag, a digital tag, and a wet-signature with a ballot to end the nightmare of who completed the ballot.
      4. More transparency, more accountability, and more importantly, less mail-in balloting will mean sending teams to registered voters in hospice, long-term care settings, and hospitals and securing completed ballots using evidentiary procedures that can stand up in a court of law. Plus, it will mean penalties for breaking the law.  What happened in Maricopa County was a farce!  What happened in Atlanta and Philadelphia was a farrago. Too often, the primaries are just as fraud-riddled as the general elections speak volumes for the problems in local governments where laws are in place.  Still, the election officials always escape with their pensions intact into retirement.The Duty of Americans

Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (especially Seattle Metro Area), Wyoming, Ohio, I wouldn’t think you have escaped scrutiny because the media left you alone in the 2020 election cycle.  I have personally witnessed the problems in your states, and I know how bad your elections are!  Worse, in New Mexico, primarily in Bernalillo County, I know the bad apples and remember them from being interviewed for a job.

Angry Grizzly BearOn the topic of local governments and Election Officials, apolitical should be the word of the day.  When a person walks into the election offices, they should not be bombarded with political messages.  Case in point, Bernalillo County, walk into the majority of the County offices, not just the election official’s offices, and look at the political affiliations on display.  Take a walk through the parking lot, look at bumper stickers, enter the offices, and find the same political messages on display in the people working inside.  You work for the government; apolitical is the least a person can expect from government employees; this is often referred to as professionalism!

Does being apolitical at work mean you lose your first amendment rights; yes!  Private-sector employees lose their rights; why should government employees keep their Constitutional Rights when private-sector employees lose their rights?  How fast will employment law change when government employees are treated like private-sector employees?  Yes, let’s have these conversations.  Let’s discuss these topics openly, in the public forums, on social media, in the town squares, and come to workable solutions.

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.