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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

This is an old theme with RO, Vincent. He can't grasp that *all* currency is fiat.

Maybe if paper were rare, like in the middle ages, he'd see it differently. I've long ago stopped riding that merry-go-round with him.

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ORIGINAL: vincentML

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doesnt matter if one is paid in gold oil or beans, unlike paper currency its specie and has real value.

WTF? Which planet are you from? Real Value? The only real value any commodity has is what demand there is for it and what consumers are willing to exchange.

Tulip bulbs anyone? [8|]

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ORIGINAL: mnottertail

specie also has real value. Take a bushel of oats and try and buy yourself breakfast.

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ORIGINAL: GoddessManko

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ORIGINAL: Real0ne

yep

However when you precipitate to the man on the street......

You spend 1 hour of your time and sweat to earn a dollar and put that dollar in your pocket to buy a gallon of milk 10 years later and you cant. You now need 2 dollars, hence the tragedy we call a monetary system has robbed you of 1/2 of your labor.

On the other hand if you purchase real property it 'better' retains its value. Oh wait, I forgot, they tax you because you own it, and again steal your labor through taxes. They even tax the necessities of life like your shelter. Living in a shelter is a luxury you dont need. Land of indentured slaves.

I agree and disagree, this country gives a lot of comfort and freedom to citizens you don't see in most parts of the world. No one can stop inflation or a market correction. Economic cycles are normal, inevitable and healthy. However they can lessen the amount of damage a recession/ Depression can cause by provisionally thwarting "disaster" through social programs and the right investments into technology, infrastructure and science. I agree with your assessment of inflation and taxes, but these are necessary to provide the luxuries we've become so accustomed and are mostly affected by growing supply and demand. They are a necessary evil so to speak, but how do we have a billionaire paying less in taxes than his secretary? We need to find more efficient models that benefit as many people as possible while maintaining the sustainability of the markets.

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ORIGINAL: mnottertail

I only need some dollar bills, and I can eat bacon, eggs, potatoes, have coffee.....................

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ORIGINAL: MrRodgers

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ORIGINAL: GoddessManko

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ORIGINAL: Real0ne

yep

However when you precipitate to the man on the street......

You spend 1 hour of your time and sweat to earn a dollar and put that dollar in your pocket to buy a gallon of milk 10 years later and you cant. You now need 2 dollars, hence the tragedy we call a monetary system has robbed you of 1/2 of your labor.

On the other hand if you purchase real property it 'better' retains its value. Oh wait, I forgot, they tax you because you own it, and again steal your labor through taxes. They even tax the necessities of life like your shelter. Living in a shelter is a luxury you dont need. Land of indentured slaves.

I agree and disagree, this country gives a lot of comfort and freedom to citizens you don't see in most parts of the world. No one can stop inflation or a market correction. Economic cycles are normal, inevitable and healthy. However they can lessen the amount of damage a recession/ Depression can cause by provisionally thwarting "disaster" through social programs and the right investments into technology, infrastructure and science. I agree with your assessment of inflation and taxes, but these are necessary to provide the luxuries we've become so accustomed and are mostly affected by growing supply and demand. They are a necessary evil so to speak, but how do we have a billionaire paying less in taxes than his secretary? We need to find more efficient models that benefit as many people as possible while maintaining the sustainability of the markets.

Two things. One is that comfort you mention at least as reflected in the consumer goods and most housing (not all of course) and community facilities, cars rather than collective mass transportation so ingrained (and ready for repair) that one can argue and with great clarity, with $60-$70 trillion in combined public and private debt...we haven't paid for much of it. (1984 $500 bill in Ccard debt...2014, $2.5 trillion)

How is that ? 2) With the advent of collective financial insurance, we see over those 50 years...a transformation from a labor based economy to a speculative paper economy which brings in ever increasing risk to the foundation of trust in our banks and currency. So govt. has instilled a culture of one part of a command capitalism in that not only a taxpayer institution for private retail deposits in banks but two huge govt. (taxpayer) mortgage warehouse(s) (Fannie & Freddie) which has exacerbated the speculative nature of the costs of housing by the ever-increasing value of mortgage purchase insurance in the amounts way outside the market place having been forced by the resulting speculation in land and prices.

So while in post civil war Phil, a typical 4 bedroom colonial was $1,500 and 50 years later in pre-depression Detroit had the same at $1,500...there was NO inflation, but since the Fed, and those institutions insuring not the buyer but the lender...along with something created exclusively out of thin air called the mortgage tax deduction, we see what were $9,000 3 bd 2 bath ramblers in 1963 that by 2006, were going for $400,000...all insured by FHA if one needed it. (northern Va.)

So combined with the inflation of the value of farm land due to subsidy entitlement and the the costs of food following, also in the debt to the Fed...we can never get out from under. Which is why also combined with the corp. taxes being at a 60 year low, we find ourselves in state of affairs where 50-60% of the working population...poorer every day.

The powers that be has taken us from a private mercantile economy with NO income taxes and no federal financial insurance, to a state command, monetary capitalism of forcing the taxpayer to insure financial speculation in a paper driven, debt driven un-taxed corp. driven, non-competitive, inflationary economy.

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ORIGINAL: Kirata


The dollar has only been doing well against other currencies. There is no future in cheering about the fact that our ship is sinking slower than theirs. The reality is that just about everything has been going up in price at an alarming rate for anyone on a budget as the dollar's purchasing power moves steadily toward confetti. We may not be the first to hit bottom, but we're a long fucking way from "doing well."

K.