“The Central Bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the principles and form of our Constitution…if the American people allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the  continent their fathers conquered.”

~Thomas Jefferson~

What is happening in our country concerning this economic crisis?  The DOW Jones Industrial Average has dropped down to nearly 7000 points.  Banks are turning belly-up and being consolidated to form even larger banking institutions.  What factors led to our current misfortune? In the news you hear that we are in this situation because of predatory lending, greedy bankers and Wall Street executives, and bad investment decisions.

I recently began an online discussion with a relative concerning the root causes of the economic problems we are facing today. The questions I have been considering include:

1. What specific government interventions lead to this problem?
2. What role did business owners, share holders, investors, etc play in it?  Did they have unrealistic earning expectations?
3. Do you think most Americans would sacrifice something of their own ($$$) to help hard working fellow Americans? If so, why? If no, why not?

With these questions in mind, I began to research how we got into the economic troubles we are facing today.  This link is a piece from the NewsHour that airs on PBS.  It provides the basis for understanding  many of the problems underlying our current economic woes.

What specific government interventions lead to this problem?

The short answer: the Federal Reserve.  The long answer: The Fed, corporate greed, and people living beyond their means.  The long answer needs further explanation.

The root cause of our economic problems stem from the Federal Reserve (Central Bank) and the devaluation of the currency.  Devaluation of the dollar is a de facto inflation tax.  The following video originally aired in the summer of 2008 as this economic crisis began to rear its ugly head.

The inflation tax exists because the Federal Reserve adjusts the money supply to have control over interest rates.  Inflation is believed to raise at 2%-3% annually, but in reality a conservative estimate is an annual increase of  7%-10%.  As the value of the dollar falls due to inflation, my real wages go down.  For example: If I make $2000 a month, and I pay $900 for my housing.  As the Fed prints more money to keep interest rates low, assuming that my wages do not get adjusted for real inflation the value of my money decreases.  I still pay $900 for housing, but my other expenses rise.  The cost of milk, food, clothing, entertainment, etc. all rise and my disposable income diminishes.  I am able to spend less money on items that would fuel the economy.  Using the logic of the Obama Administration this in turn would decrease the demand in labor for new products.  Less demand for products means that people lose jobs…leading to recession.  The economy in this situation will eventually stagnate when real wages fall past a certain point.

Government intervention in the form of manipulating the money supply is the root cause of our economic problems.  When the government fixes prices and interest rates the free-market fights back.  We are currently in a struggle between Government control and Free-Market economics.

What role did business owners, share holders, investors, etc play in it?  Did they have unrealistic earning expectations?

Obviously all of these people had a role to play in this economic recession.  Of course they had unrealistic earning expectations.  The question is, why did they hold those expectations.  It can be argued that these expectations were held largely due to artificially low interest rates.  Interest rates were low and banks were not held accountable by having the money supply tied to any tangible asset.  Government intervention and regulation of the market led to unrealistic expectations of bankers and investors.

When the currency is not tied to tangible assets and credit is available beyond tangible assets, lenders and stock market speculators make poor decisions.  There are no consequences for making “bad” loans since the Fed extends the necessary credit.  Alan Greenspan provides a basic explaination of how the monetary system can be manipulated when money is not tied to anything.  Click here to view his remarks.  His remarks however, do not match what he did as the acting Federal Reserve Chairman.  Under his authority the financial bubbles grew and the potential for crisis ensued.  He is not to blame for the crisis or for not seeing it, but the system he took part in is the culprit.

If banker and investor greed is to blame, is it reasonable to extend the idea that union and personal greed are also plausible.  Unions play an important role in industry in that they represent the rights of the workers often times in opposition to the owners/managers.  However, union demands have reached the point of laughability.  Unions demands have stripped businesses of profits which could be reinvested in the company.  I will not elaborate further at this time, but it is worthy to note that unions are big business.

Many times greed is to blame for bad decision making on the part of business owners and investors.  I offer an alternative that has been spoken of for generations.  According to the economist Adam Smith, self interest drives the economy.  People acting in their own self interest (to make money for themselves) would move to fulfill the demands of the society.  In this way, they provide services that the community needs.  Smith was correct in his understanding of this basic economic principle.  But this principle only works under the idea of laissez faire capitalism (no government intervention).  When the government gets involved, it regulates where the demand in society exists.  For example, if interest rates are artificially low as regulated by the Fed, the demand for housing increases.  Under a system where money is backed by tangible assets, individual banks adjust their interest rates to stop excessive lending.  They raise their rates out of self interest, and in turn provide the monetary stability that the society needs.

Were their expectations of return on investment unrealistic? Yes! Did their greed play a role in the current crisis?  Yes!  Did they abuse the stockholders through bonuses and extravagance? Yes! But remember, the real question is why were they so lose with their money.  If left to the free market, these executives and businesses could never have lent or spent so much without dire consequences for their businesses.  Their competitors would have kept them in check.

Do you think most Americans would sacrifice something of their own ($$$) to help hard working fellow Americans? If so, why? If no, why not?

Yes!  Most Americans would sacrifice something in order to help their fellow citizens.  That being said, do American citizens have the right to decide how they will support others, when they will support other, and if they will support others.  As a person who has received government assistance, I am thankful to my fellow citizens.  But would it have been better for people to support me out of their own free will rather than being forced into supporting me and my family.  One important thing to remember is that taxes are the money of the citizens.  I have heard it argued that we elect representatives to apportion our tax money, but I ask how can one representative represent the opinions of 100,000 people.  The diversity of opinion under each representative’s jurisdiction is too large to reasonably represent each constituent.

Taxes are a necessary evil.  I like driving my car on the roads and having clean water to drink.  But when it comes to dealing with social issues taxes should not be involved.  The nature of government is bureaucracy.  Tax dollars are wasted through the process of  getting money to those in need.  Private charities, churches, and family support provide similar services at a much lower cost to the citizens of a community.  People should not have their hard earned money taken out their paychecks before they even get to see their earnings, just to get spent in a way that they do not agree with.  I will write a future blog about how the Income Tax makes us slaves to the government.  Why do people in the government think that they know how to spend citizens’ money better than the people who earned it?

Conclusion

Upon reviewing the questions and answers above, several more questions came to mind that will be the topics of future posts.

1. Why do we accept that a small group of people on the Federal Reserve Board have so much power over our economic well-being without raising any objections?
2. Is centralized, monopoly control over our money even compatible with a supposedly free-market economy? Is government monopoly different than private monopolies (greed)?
3. Why do people in the government think that they know how to spend citizens’ money better than the people who earned it?

Bankers, investors, executives, greed, and bad decisions on the part of consumers all played a part in the creation of our current economic problems.  The biggest factor in this problem has been government involvement in the market.  Government intervention led to risky decisions.  Risky decisions led to inappropriate lending.  Bad lending led to a housing bubble.  At some point the market decided to fight back.

Central banking has been deplored throughout American history.  Andrew Jackson vetoed the renewal of the Bank of the United States.  He even stated, “The bold effort the present bank had made to control the government, the distress it had wantonly produced…are but premonitions of the fate that awaits the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it.”  He was so proud and intent on warning future generations about the evils of central banking that he had his tombstone is inscribed with the phrase “I killed the bank!” In 1913, the establishment of the Federal Reserve resurrected that bank and forever changed the freedom of the American public.

The current “stimulus” and bailout plans will only worsen our economy over the long run.  They will continue to inflate the money supply decreasing the value of the dollar.  They are pushing the tax burden onto future generations. My children’s and grandchildren’s  financial future is at stake. As a young father, husband, student, and employee I fear for our nations future, but I remain hopeful that through the efforts of education and involvement of the common people we may overcome the difficulties that lie ahead.

http://frted.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/freedom-comes-from-god/

http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/christianity-in-a-one-storey-universe/

In others: I see my shortcomings, I see virtue that I strive for, I see examples of how to live or what to avoid, I see new ways of looking at the world, and I see my affect as an individual.

My life is given importance only in how I act with and toward others. Outside of others and their experience of me, “I” do not exist.We are individuals in the sense that we cannot stand apart from our experience of others.

We have all heard the phrase, “Silence is Golden.” My wife says that this saying was made up by parents of young children, but perhaps this is just good advice. This phrase can be applied to the sacrament of marriage as Fr. Stephen points out. I remember my wedding in the Catholic Church and how the vows were simply one of the things that I was required to do in order to be married to my wife. But in reality I don’t feel like I married my wife, but that we got married by the grace of God. In my opinion, the Orthodox Church gets around the idea that the couple marries each other by “limiting” what the couple says. God is in charge and the worship revolves Him. I feel that the Orthodox Church has preserved this. God is glorified through the union of the couple.

Please read Fr. Stephen’s post to hear what he said, so as to keep me honest: http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/speaking-carefully/

These are just a few ideas about marriage that I thought were worth discussing. I always try to remember that it is the events in my life that make a difference. Not only the events, but the meaning of the events.

http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2008/06/21/all-saints-and-their-intercession/

http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/why-the-intercession-of-the-saints-is-a-dogma/

I would contend that the terms Individual and Individualism are overused in our modern American society. We maintain the idea that we are rugged individuals that are in charge of our own lives. We want to be free to make our own decisions. I will discuss freedom in a later blog, but for now let’s try an exercise.

Pause for a moment. Grab any object within reach. Now that you have an object, think about that object and what it took to create it.

Just think for a minute. Think of the people that physically made the object. Think of the designer who came up with the concept for the object you are holding. Think of their boss or supervisor.

Now let’s go a little deeper. Think about a spouse or significant person that had an influence on the designer of that object. Think about anyone who may have had an impact on the person who built that object. Think about the children or pets that those people had. Think about their parents. Think about their grandparents.

Think about how you have been affected by the object you are holding. Think of how anyone you know has interacted with that object and how it affected them. Expand this thought to include everyone who has ever come into contact with that object.

Let’s take a break from this visualization for a moment to reflect on what it is that I am trying to say…

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Can you see how everything is connected? Everything that we come into contact with on a daily basis is connected to others. Through connecting the objects that we come into contact with to the people that created them, used them, or have even heard of them, we realize the humanness of those people. All of those people have had an indirect effect on you, and you have had and indirect affect on them.

The above exercise is designed to get you to humanize all of the people who had an impact on you who often go unnoticed. When we humanize others we reach the true meaning of individuality. Individuality is what I am when I realize that I am a small part of the whole picture. This idea doesn’t erase the individual, but it realizes the individual for who they are. It recognizes the special talents and qualities that make us different from each other. We are each made in the Image and Likeness of God and therefore are individual persons. We are individual persons existing among other individuals.

Next time I will take the next step in looking at the world anew. I will discuss how individualism must be understood in a new manner. Stay tuned.

Who am I? This is one of the greatest questions ever asked by mankind. It is a question that people must answer to find meaning in their lives. I have asked myself this question on many occasions. At points in my life the answers have been different. When I was nineteen, I was at North Idaho College spending time with friends and trying to find myself. I was a religious wanderer who wanted answers. At twenty, I married the most wonderful woman and had a new family. She was a Catholic and challenged some of my religious assumptions. My son was born when I was twenty-one. I became a family man and the quest for meaning became urgent. I graduated from college at twenty-two ending that part of my life. The following January my wife and I found out that we were having another baby. At twenty-three I began graduate school. So, who am I?

The history that I have presented barely scratches the surface of who I was at any given point. Looking back I cannot clearly express who I was at any given time because I place the new me into the past. The saying goes, “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts it’s made of.” This is most true in answering the question “who am I.” I am greater than the sum of my parts. I exist at a particular time and in a specific place. My friendships define me, for I cannot escape those closest to me. My interests dictate the future.

Who am I? The “I” that I am cannot be pinned down. There is something within me that makes me who I am, but that something is always forming, changing, adapting, and hopefully growing. The truth is I am merely a “who” living at a certain “time” that experiences certain “events”. Hence the title for this blog: Time + Events = Life. That is who I am!? Am I an individual? Can anyone truly be an individual? I will explore this idea next time.

The realization of who I am has given me the chance to start over. I can look at myself and the world anew. Another saying goes, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” This statement could not be any more true. I cannot become my true self unless I am willing to let change enter my heart and let new beginnings take hold in my life.

In this blog, I’m setting out to explore the nature of life. It is my desire to take life on its own terms although I have begun to come to some conclusions. I have purposely left the direction of this blog open ended because I want life to follow its own course. Please walk with me and enjoy a new beginning.