“You know what we’re going to do with the money? We’re going to spend it and when it’s gone we’re going to be begging for more”, said Schiff.
Does the average American care? They should.
Euro Pacific’s Schiff says it best, “We can’t keep pretending we have a viable economy and expect the rest of the world to finance it.”
Any astute economist or well-read citizen should be aware that all of these bailout and stimulus packages are only inflating the paper money supply and they will inevitably contribute to a further devaluation of the US dollar. And we should know that the danger here is rapid inflation inside the US and in other markets around the world in 2009 and 2010. Stagflation, hyperinflation, or stag-hyper-inflation. Whichever- it's seriously bad news.
If the US sees more successive economic downturns and corresponding periods of hyperinflation, then more of these wild Cabbage Patch Doll-type riots witnessed on Black Friday will certainly follow, but they won’t all be confined to the Wallmarts or Toys R Us’s. These scenes could play out at banks, petrol stations, supermarkets, hospitals or perhaps shipping ports.
The result will most certainly mean what US Treasury Secretary Paulson allegedly threatened members of Congress with in closed session on the eve of the second Bailout Bill- a declaration of Martial Law(just ask Senator Inhoff from Oklahoma, he was there). October saw a successful attempt by the banking interests to blackmail Congress, and America.
Martial Law you say? Not a far-fetch scenario by any means and one to be avoided. Well, who knows, Obama did promise “change”. Hyperinflation and Martial Law sounds like change to me... but not really the change I want.
From Drunk to ‘Junkie’
Both Wall Street and Washington appear to acting in concert to undermine any chance the US will have in implementing sound regulation or sound money. Both are needed more than ever. On this matter, Peter Schiff concluded, “Now of course behind it all is the Federal Reserve, if the Federal Reserve had not intervened….had they not poured all this alcohol then Wall Street wouldn’t have got drunk, but they did.”
Indeed, with these bailouts Wall Street has advance from the condition of a ‘drunk’... to a “junkie”, now totally addicted to the prospect of free bags of cash. The economic dangers in continuing down this road to nowhere are potentially catastrophic.
The smoke and mirrors continue. The media have already taken the bait of spending up its talking points by debating about a relatively minor $20 billion bailout of Detroit’s GM and company- a conversation which has successful lured the public away from the larceny of Congress initially handing over some $850 billion. Actually, it's now more like $8.5 trillion in real terms… free money for the very banks who engineered this very crisis. Only about $3.2 trillion of the $8.5 trillion has been tapped so far, according to Bloomberg. So in theory, it's not too late to hit the brakes, but that cash might seem too temping for the big city banksters.
An all-out orgy of institutional cash and credit. More multiple derivative leaveraging. Champagne and caviar. They will party like it's 1999. Will anyone be accountable if hyperinflation arrives on these shores as a result?
It's now clearer than ever that when the fabled bold Banking-Hedge-Funder-Cowboy and his trusty sidekick the Derivative-Addicted-Maverick speculate on this nation’s breadstuff and win- they will split the profits between themselves. But… when they lose (and lose badly in this case) they have saw fit to charge those loses to the American people.
Hard working Americans surely deserve better. But when we see scenes like the ones witnessed on Black Friday, one wonders whether or not the consumer-crazed American is ready to be informed about his or her nation’s financial dealings. Not to mention the responsibility of holding their elected leaders to task.
Whether it’s under Bush, or under Obama makes little difference. Americans need to start caring a lot more about the bailouts, the borrowing... and the spending.
A good start would be to ask your Representatives to repeal the Bailout Bill. Yes indeed, that would be a great start.
