Text by Bob Shell, Copyright 2022
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Political Thoughts on The Eve of An Election
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Since we’re now just days away from major elections that can seriously alter the United States, I want to put out a few of my thoughts on the major issues.
I’ve been reading about Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), which essentially says governments can print all the money they want, deficits don’t matter, and related concepts. After reading what these ‘economists’ believe, I’ve come to think they belong in zoos. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the more money you create out of nothing, called fiat money, the less it will be worth in the real world of goods and services.
By the way, it is called fiat money because the Latin word fiat means, ‘let there be’ as in the Latin Bible, which has God say, “Fiat lux,” ‘Let there be light,’ since God created light from darkness, nothingness. Fiat money is backed by absolutely nothing except faith in the government that prints it. Few people understand this. U S money was originally backed by gold and silver, the gold standard, that we abandoned in the 1970s. Look at money printed before that, and it says ‘Silver Certificate’ on it, meaning the government would, on request, redeem it for silver. Try going to the government today and asking for silver or gold and see how fast the door slams in your face.
Any person with a functioning brain can see that government debt, paid in fiat money, causes inflation. The massive spending and give-away programs of the Trump and Biden administrations, as well as the Obama and Bush administrations before them, have reduced the value of our money. They couldn’t have any other effect.
The reason that Bitcoin and its copiers go up in value instead of down like government-issued money is that there is a fixed, finite number of Bitcoins and the others. No one can ‘print’ more, no government controls them.
Right now, because of Putin’s disastrous policies, the Russian ruble, another fiat currency, is practically worthless.
We should learn the lessons of the old German Weimar Republic that printed so much money the joke was you’d go to the store with a wheelbarrow full of banknotes and come home with a loaf of bread. People wallpapered their houses with money.
That hasn’t happened to the U S dollar yet, but it could if our elected officials continue to act irresponsibly.
And another point. If the government can just print all the money it needs to pay its bills, as MMT theorists say, there is no need or justification for taxes. Think about it.
Now, personally, I think MMT is a load of bollocks, but some very influential academics are spouting it to anyone who will listen, and indoctrinating future generations of economists in it.
And, BTW, the Federal Reserve that controls the money supply is not Federal and keeps no reserve. Fact.
The Federal Reserve was created in 1910 by a cabal of bankers who met in absolute secrecy at Jekyll Island in Georgia to plan how to take control of the USA by controlling the money supply. They included Henry P. Davison, senior partner of JP Morgan, Paul Warburg, founder of Kuhn, Loeb and Co., Frank A. Vanderlip, VP of what is Citibank today, Charles D. Norton, president of Morgan’s First National bank of New York, and other powerful bankers. They wrote what became the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Thus was born ‘The Creature From Jekyll Island,’ the Federal Reserve.
Inflation is sure to be a big factor in the November elections, but as long as the printing presses roll out tons of money daily and the Federal Reserve keeps adding zeros to the bank’s balances, there’s very little the politicians can do about it.
There is nothing in the U S Constitution suggesting a central bank.
Now for the hottest of the hot potatoes, the abortion issue. Personally, I will take the antiabortion folks seriously if every single one of them signs a binding agreement to adopt at least one unwanted baby and raise that baby to adulthood. Put your money where your mouth is, folks!
I know a number of women whose lives were made better by choosing not to have a child they were not equipped to raise.
Abortion is a difficult personal decision that the government has no business intruding into, in my opinion. Because I am a man, I’ve never had to face that heart rending decision that can cause serious psychological harm, no matter which way it is decided.
We have politicized the courts in this country so much that judges can now make law, something they are manifestly not qualified to do. That was never their job. Legislatures exist to create the law, courts exist to enforce it. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe, as it is expected to do this summer, this will he a radically different country afterwards. Generations of women have believed their bodies belong to themselves. Now they’re going to learn that their bodies belong to the state. This thought is positively chilling! Orwellian!
Unfortunately, the writers of our Constitution didn’t think to include a right of personal privacy. They probably took it for granted. But we simply have no constitutional right to personal privacy in this country.
France does, as I learned while there. It is illegal there to photograph a private citizen without their permission. Public figures lose a degree of this right, and crowd scenes are another exception. Otherwise I couldn’t photograph the Eiffel Tower without the permission of everyone in the crowd at the base.
But, overall, I think this is an excellent law. French citizens own their bodies, their images, themselves. I imagine some other enlightened European countries have similar privacy laws.
And while I’m on the subject of law, I believe all judges, from the Supreme Court justices down to your local magistrate, should have term limits. Term limits insure an influx of fresh ideas and minds.
Those are just some of my thoughts on the political front. More some other time.
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About The Author: Bob Shell is a professional photographer, author, former editor in chief of Shutterbug Magazine and veteran contributor to this blog. He is currently serving a 35 year sentence for involuntary manslaughter for the death of Marion Franklin, one of his former models. He is serving the 15th year of his sentence at Pocahontas State Correctional Facility, Virginia. To read additional articles by Bob Shell, click here: https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/cancelling_culture/