Last night just as I was drifting off, I got to thinking about the curious double legal and moral standards regarding addicts and pushers in America. Illegal drug pushers can rake in a lot of money preying on the weak-in-character by getting them hooked on the products they sell. Pushers know that those “feel good” products will eventually ruin the lives of many of their customers, but they have no concern for any of that – they just want the money. In a moral society, selling people into drug dependency should be a crime, and so it is in America. Drug pushers who profit from tempting the weak-in-character are condemned both by society and by the law; They’re considered the lowest of the low and given long prison sentences if convicted. OTOH, the addicts created by the drug pushers are treated like” victims” with a “problem”. They’re to be “understood” and “rehabilitated”. How many times has the media been filled with sympathetic stories about some movie star going to “rehab” to kick one addiction or another? Personally, I don’t have much respect for those who get hooked, but I can understand how it happens. Humans can succumb to temptations of all kinds. OTOH, I have nothing but contempt for drug pushers.
But compare the moral and legal treatment of people in the drug trade to that of the people in the debt trade. Today we have an entire “industry” which – with government encouragement and protection – rakes in money by getting people hooked on debt that they have no chance of ever repaying. Sub-prime mortgages, NINJA loans, Home Equity Lines of Credit, credit card debt, title loans, payday loans… “Here kid, sign here – It’ll make you feel good. All your friends are doing it. You can pay me later.” Over the last 100 years the politicians, investment bankers, phony insurance executives, and Wall St. insiders have sold the entire country into wage slavery. So where is the comparable condemnation of the pushers of debt who no doubt destroy more lives than pushers of illegal drugs? For some reason, the only outrage we see is directed against the weak-at-math who actually believe the lies the credit pushers are telling them: “You can afford it. All your friends are doing it”, etc.
There are three kinds of pushers, and I believe that all three kinds should be condemned: Those who push illegal drugs, those who push individual debt, and those who push government debt. There was a time when no honest banker would lend money to a bad credit risk. Somewhere along the way the government stepped in and forced bankers to do just that. When honest bankers objected, the government told them, “Don’t worry, we’ll buy up those risky mortgages so you won’t have to keep them on your books” (…or your conscious). There was a time when no politician would borrow and spend more of the taxpayers’ money than could ever be repaid. But it seems those “Profiles in Courage” days are long gone.
William Shakespeare once wrote:
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man”
Now, thanks to the unholy alliance between U.S. Government, the Federal Reserve, and the financial industry, everybody is a borrower whether they want to be or not, and the debt pushers who are reaping the benefits are no longer true to themselves. For over 100 years in America, the pushers of bigger government and paper money have continued to enrich themselves at the expense of individual Americans who are now totally dependent upon the government to take care of them. The same crowd has seen to it that Americans are also hooked on personal credit just to live the lifestyle to which they feel they are entitled. “You have to keep up with the Joneses. You can handle it.”
Progressive Woodrow Wilson set the stage with his Federal Reserve Act which handed control of the money supply to the New York Money Trust. Those financial elites knew exactly what to do with their newly found power. Since the creation of the Fed, 96% of the value of a dollar has been stolen from the bank accounts of savers while the financial elites and their political enablers have become very wealthy. Also in 1913, Congress passed – and the States ratified – the 16th Amendment authorizing a tax on incomes “from whatever source derived”. But in order to push more and more debt, they government exempted interest on borrowing of all types from “income”. From the very first and until 1986, interest paid on all borrowed money was deductible. These days, only mortgage interest remains deductible, but that’s proved to be enough incentive to get people to sign over years of future income (and part of their freedom along with it).
FDR’s Social Security scheme convinced subsequent generations of Americans they no longer needed to save for retirement (which coincidentally may explain why banks no longer need savers). In 1965, LBJ and Congress told Americans they no longer needed to save for medical care in their old because “the government will take care of you”. Now we have over half the population receiving a government check every month and no way to pay for any of that but to steal more of the savings of an entire generation. Is any of this starting to sound familiar?
Why are why are Americans condemning the Greeks for living “beyond their means” when every American household “owes” more than they can ever possibly repay? Each household theoretically “owes” a $125,000 chunk of the $14.3 trillion national debt. Add to that the $15.1 trillion Net Present Value of the unfunded liability for Social Security – approximately $129,000 per household (Source: 2009 Social Security Trustees Report, p. 61). We can also add the $36.4 trillion NPV of the unfunded liability of Medicare – approximately $ 311,000 per household (Source: 2009 Medicare Trustees Report, p. 69). Total U.S. consumer debt is reported to be $2.45 trillion, or $14,743 per household as of March 2010 (Source: Federal Reserve’s G.19 report on consumer credit, May 2010). Add all those up and you arrive at a grand total of $579,000 of debt per American household. It’s not mathematically possible for this debt to ever be repaid because Americans don’t have the money. Americans are hooked. The withdrawal symptoms will be painful.
In a moral society, the credit pushers who profited by selling our Country into this much debt would be in jail like the drug pushers or, in the case of the politicians, swinging from a rope after being convicted of treason for selling our Country into slavery.
Nice analogy, however there is a very practical method for repaying this debt. We devalue our money by ten or we have hyper inflation. You can also become rich beyond measure if you are among the inner circle of the president and know when the machinations are ready to initiate.
Don’t rule out the possibility. The ghetto dwellers will love the feeling of being millionaires, but it will take a million to buy an Obama Motors product or fill up your freezer with beef. Most people who don’t subsist on the government dole will watch their investments become worthless, but if you could just sell your home you could get enough money to eat for another month. It’s called Redistribution of Wealth.
Great read John Cooper. On debt – How can we promote personal responsibility to Americans on spending and personal debt when our own Government is out of control on spending and debt? And like you state, encourages this form of slavery?
There are plenty of Americans who do owe debt no doubt, but, they learned to ‘manage it’ and not live beyond their means… Having to get an extra $125,000 tacked on to your own debt via the Government because the Government has a spending problem, should make many a ‘responsible American’ angry as Hell!
Sadly the Left/Progressives don’t think this applies to them. They keep plying the mantra of [Tax the Rich]. Sadly what they don’t seem to understand is even if we took all the wealth from the “rich” it wold not even put a dent in the trillions America is in hock for…
The China Card becomes increasngly pernicious with reports they plan to buy more of our Treasury debt while assuring the EU on the evaluation of the Euro. The reptilian reaction would be to contract when under threat so it is that us, the we, that must contract back in order to take control of the problem we have created. Instead of hyper-inflation or currency devaluation there are swaps directed at vaporizing the debt burden vis-a-vis China. Self amputation is a lousy alternative but thus is the nature of nation-state debt; so, I propose Guam as a means eliminating all the China Card debt and with it, at time of the transaction, we establish a more merchantile trade relationship with China forcing a point of austerity that will halt the product dump practices happening because of the under valued yuen. This could mean instead of “Made In China” Barbie Dolls we will need to find new, less pernicious, markets for items we wish to consume.
Sorry, I neither feel sorry for the pusher, or the junkie. I feel sorry for those who will have to pay the pusher, because of the junkie. The junkie, the real junkie, will never have to pay, as he is a victim. A weak soul that government demands productive society take care of.
Franklin Roosevelt managed to saddle Americans with Social Security, a true pyramid scheme, because part of the country was afraid. They had lost their never, the never, and self reliance they inherited from generations of those who took no more than they earned, and felt responsibile for themselves and their families. The Great Depression was a crisis not allowed to go to waste. To add to the fear, Roosevelt hired photographers to go all across the land, in the plains of Kansas, to the large cities, to have visable proof of the hardships of the times. Those photographs were not to give people courage, but to discourage them, so that they would accept his plans for reconstructing the nation. Because of the people’s fear, it worked. He got his plans that was to save them all. Social Security for when you were old. But Roosevelt, much like the dishonest man now residing in the White House, never bothered to tell the people that they were not expected to live long enought to collect those benefits. With the Great Depression came a plague much, much worse; the Great Dependency.
That system of “crisis” management continued with each new Democrat in the White House. People were told that they had a “right” to own a home. And the government did everything it could to not let little things like low wages, bad credit, etc. stand in its way of providing that right. And then we had to support the poor. Oh, nevermind that most poor people are now poor by the choices they made, we were still supposed to help them. It lost vogue to let charities do that. It was humiliating to have to grovel to some charity to ask for help. The government didn’t want you to have to grovel, so they made it so there was no disgrace in ruining your life to the point you could not support yourself. The government had a duty to provide for their welfare. Only it wasn’t the government doing it, it was taxpayers, who were self-reliant and productive that were forced to do it.
There are now three classes in this nation; those who have plenty with power to go along with it, and those who have enough to feed, clothe, and put a roof over their children, and those who have nothing because of bad choices. And to make those who have plenty feel good about themselves, do they give their wealth away? No, they tax those who have enough to live a fairly decent life and who are responsibile, not creating so much person debt they can never get out of it so that those who made bad choices can live as well as them.
When you see a Chevy Volt, although you may not want one, remember, you are paying for that Volt just as much as the guy who is driving it. When you sit down at your kitchen table to work out your budget and know how much you can spend for groceries this week, remember that the person who made bad choices in live is not doing that because, thanks to you, they have a roof over their heads, they probably have a greater food budget than you do thanks to food stamps, they can get cash for cigarettes, booze and lottery tickets and probably have a free cell phone.
Franklin Roosevelt used the term “forgotten man” to describe those who suffered the most from the Depression. But he was wrong. He stole the term from someone else who described how the forgotten man was the average taxpayer, the man who worked every day and who managed to eek out a living in hard times. The same farmer, rancher, shop keeper, grocery store clerk, mechanic, and plumber who still pay their taxes, pay their bills but are now required to support the children of people who are irresponsible and should have never had them. That is the forgotten man.
Everyone: Thanks for the kind comments on my first “reader post”. They are appreciated.
Skookum wrote, “It’s called Redistribution of Wealth”. Exactly, sir, but it has to be done very slowly. The trick is to keep the debt addicts happy while redistributing their future without them even realizing it. Such an epic con requires a lot of finesse to pull off and so far I’d have to say that the debt pushers have done a superb job of it. I doubt that one in ten Americans realize what’s going on, which is curious because the evils of government largesse with fiat money have been well known for many centuries. In 1850, Frederic Bastiat wrote in That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen:
Bastiat also left us a warning:
This last seems to be the point at which America has arrived.
@Skookum: And we would become another Mozambique, but with an air force and a navy.
John,
VERY WELL WRITTEN. I would suggest your total debt numbers are off. The total US debt (NPV) is most often reported to be in the 60-75 TRILLION range, with some estimates as high as 100T. The Federal Reserve is carrying a lot of debt, which is almost like a credit card.
Right now we have “on the books debt” of 14.7T, “off the books debt” of several T, future obligations totaling upwards of 100T, and STILL spending more than we’re taking in every year. Considering that almost 1/2 the population receives a substantial portion of their income from the govt, is there any hope of us ever electing leadership that will begin to address conundrum?
Maybe we have been going after the drug war the wrong way, selling drugs should be legal, buying them should be the illegal side of the transaction, this has been somewhat proven with switchblades, throwing stars, nun-chucks – it is not illegal to sell them, just to own them… and prices are down. this would drop the cost of drugs so that it is less profitable to sell them. We should just make the penalty a forced move to CA, we can wall that off right, we have all the material left over from the border fence?
Just thinking aloud here…
Phil H: Thanks. The debt numbers I used could very well be too low; When you’re dealing in incomprehensible numbers, who can say with any accuracy? I got the “on the books” federal debt from the U.S. Debt Clock. The other numbers were attributed, but came from federal government agencies, so buyer beware.
Off book numbers come from the OMB… But, the NPV of the incomprehensibly numbers are difficult to accurately ascertain. Govt, requires that publicly traded corporations properly identify the NPV of their future obligations, why shouldn’t they have to follow their own standards? People have attempted to do that with the best information that is currently available, and that is how they have come up with the 50-75T value.
John Cooper, very good POST INDEED,
I would like to see ,way out in advance poll from the military at different places around the WORLD,
and specialy those in warzones; those poll of who they would like to lead THE COUNTRY;
THOSE ARE IN FRONT TO MEASURE THE ABILITY OF SOME ELECTED TO REPRESENT AND PLAY A LEADERSHIP ROLE ; THEY HAVE EARNED THE RIGHT ABOVE ANY EXPERT TO FIGURE THE LIER’S INTENT,AND AGENDA, simply becaus they are the most ALERTS OF THE AMERICANS DUE TO THEIR WORK THAT DEMAND AN EXTRA BRAIN EXSERSIZE TO FIND AND FIGHT THE ENNEMIES AND STAYING ALIVE FOR THOSE WHO DIED SO THEY CAN LIVED TO COME BACK AND VOTE FOR A TRUE LEADER, A DEDICATED AMERICAN TO NOT CHANGE AMERICA BUT SERVE THOSE WHO BELEIVE
IN THEIR COUNTRY TO CONTINUE TO BE THE BEST OF THE WORLD AND PROMOTE FREEDOM NOT
WITH MONEY BUT EXEMPLE OF TRUTH AND VALOR, WHICH HAS BEEN THE QUALITYS OF THE FOUNDERS OF THIS CONSTITUTION FOR CENTURYS, THAT WILL PREVAIL NO MATTER WHAT MISTAKES HAVE BEEN DONE, BY ELECTING THE WRONG PEOPLE, IT WILL PASS SHORTLY WHEN AMERICANS DECIDE TO MARCH FOR THE TASK TO FIX ALL THE WRONG DONE
AND SEND THE HATERS OF THEIR BELOVED AMERICA WAY BACK WHERE
They belong, and even less of all in THE WHITE HOUSE
Mizz Beez: This video arrangement of America the Beautiful is for you and the troops:
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=82471
John Cooper, thank you,
I’m anxious to watch it, as soon as I cool of my computer who is almost in flame,
I will get back after I see it,
bye
Remove the word “illegal”, and you’ve got an exact description of the tobacco industry, in spades. 443,000 directly related deaths per year in the U.S. alone; $96 billion per year in directly related healthcare costs, much being picked up by the taxpayer; $97 billion per year in lost productivity; $2.6 billion per year in additional Social Security costs, to pay benefits to the surviving children of parents who have died prematurely from smoking-related causes.
Seeing all of the statistics at once is shocking.
The social and economic damages of illegal drugs, bad as they are, don’t even come close.
Seeing the effect first hand growing up is more sobering than any statistic… it cured me, those it doesn’t are doomed.
Greg–
Answer me this: If tobacco is so bad, why doesn’t the government ban it?
The addicts would probably revolt. (Speaking as a former heavy smoker.)
But seriously… We would just wind up with another banned herb and another black market that would supply it anyway. And adults have a right to make their own decision. I figure the government’s place is to inform the public, and to aggressively interfere with industry efforts to get more unsuspecting young people hooked. Also, I think it’s government’s place to protect the air we all share. I generally agree with smoking bans in enclosed public spaces, unless they’re specifically intended for people who want to smoke. I pretty much feel the same way about marijuana.
John Cooper, a real gem that is, I realy enjoyed, hope the troops are watching it too,
and know we are on their side here in AMERICA, PRAYING FOR THEM TO BE SAFE. AND SOUND,
AND WE’RE DOING THE BEST WE CAN TO SPEAK ON THEIR BEHALF UNTIL THEY ARE BACK IN THEIR BELOVED AMERICA.
John Cooper by the way, you sent me the wrong HUMMINGBIRD, THIS ONE IS METALLIC BLUE
WITH A RED THROAT, AND THE LAST YEAR ONE WAS EMERALD GREEN, AND WAS A
REAL MACHO WITH THE GIRLS, FLYING HIGH AND CIRCLE ROCAMBOULESQUE DANGEROUS FLIGHTS TO IMPRESS, well, it turn out at the end of the summer, there was 12 young hummingbirds
young machos around,
I hope this one does as good a job, but he look real anxious to get to work.
bye and thank you,
Geg, I wonder what you mean by
you agree the GOVERNMENT TO AGRESSIVLY INTERFERE WITH INDUSTRY
EFFORT TO GET MORE UNSUSPECTING YOUNG PEOPLE HOOKED,
WHAT INDUSTRY , IT LOOK LIKE ALL INDUSTRY ARE DOING IT,AND DESERVE HAVING THE GOVERNMENT AGRESSIVELY INTERFERE TO GET UNSUSPECTED YOUNG PEOPLE HOOKED.
CAN YOU SPECIFY ON INDUSTRY
This article by Ellen Brown, J.D. has an excellent explanation of how the fractional-reserve banking system came about: DOLLAR DECEPTION: HOW BANKS SECRETLY CREATE MONEY
She also explains how banks create “money” (which is really debt) out of thin air and then draw interest on that debt, thereby causing an increase in the money supply with no equivalent increase in goods (e.g. Inflation). I like this quote from Robert B. Anderson, Secretary of the Treasury under Eisenhower, who said in an interview reported in the August 31, 1959 issue of U.S. News and World Report:
John Cooper, that would mean that if the bank allowed me a credit card, and after that, raise my limits of spending, ; they would have create more moneys, that even if I never use it is going into
their expanses sheet balance for the year, and so on and so on,
correct me if I ‘m wrong
Mizz Bees: I think – but don’t know for sure – that “money” would be created only when you actually charged something on your credit card.