From: Stebbins, Donald M (MC1961)
Date: Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 7:19 PM
Subject: Hard Money
Dear Jasper John,
It is not surprising to see you backing hard money and opposing a United Nations takeover of the economy as proposed by Pope Benedict (http://takimag.com/article/truth_charity/print#axzz1bvz5cjBe) given that in the past you have admitted rooting for Ebenezer Scrooge while reading or viewing “A Christmas Carol”. I suppose that you are an Old Man Potter devotee as well after seeing “It’s a Wonderful Life” Actually there are those who argue that Bedford Falls was better off under Potter with a thriving economy based on gambling and alcohol- where I live the local Oneida County economy isn’t exactly thriving, but our largest employer is the Indian casino, which now serves alcohol.
If “hard money” benefits the poor so much why is it always the favorite policy of bankers and other plutocrats?
Do you think those fellows and gals have the interest of poor folk at heart? William Jennings Bryan certainly did not think so
Part of his “Cross of Gold” speech is quoted below from: http://www.academicamerican.com/recongildedage/topics/gildedagepolitics.html
The issue (of hard money) came into sharp focus during the 1896 Democratic national convention. William Jennings Bryan, a populist Democrat from Nebraska, gave a speech which became known as his “Cross of Gold Speech.” In that famous oration Bryan said of the gold backers:
“They tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard; we reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.
“… Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
Sincerely yours,
Donald M Stebbins
BS 1961
# – # – #
JR:
I am surprised that it took you until Wednesday to “fire back”.
With all deference to the Holy Father, taking over of “the economy” by the UN is an absolutely terrible idea. Unless I misunderstand the definition of “faith and morals”, the Pope is offering us a “personal opinion”. Look at ANYTHING the UN has done and tell me that this the path to peace, liberty, or even prosperity? This is the same UN where the Human Rights are preserved by tyrants, “oil for food” after looting is used to buy arms for dictators, or even the unpunished atrocities committed by UN “peacekeepers”!
You are misreading my support for old Eb. He pays his taxes for his Gooferment social programs and then he gets panhandled to support the poor. His rant about “workhouses” is more about having to pay twice.
And, Potter is a creation of the Gooferment. Where does he get an industry protected from competition? And when an upstart S&L starts to pinch, HE calls the regulators to shut them down.
Gambling and booze are “regulated”; no? I’d suggest that Bedford Falls would be better off without the Gooferment’s “help”.
You have to be joking? What “plutocrat” advocates for “hard money”? Central bankers (including Wall Street), and their corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, want Gooferment to escape the chains of “hard money”. Inflation is the Gooferment’s tax on dollars, and dollar denominated assets. It allows Gooferment spending without debt or taxation. This silent hidden tax has eroded the dollars purchasing power. Remember Ron Paul’s three silver dimes comparison? Three silver dimes in 1960 bought a gallon of gas; those same three silver dimes would buy about THREE gallons today! The gas “value” didn’t change; the value of the “dollar” did! And, don’t you see how the little guy is being cheated?
And, WJB, that you’re citing, wanted “cheap money” from the Gooferment to make the “Farmer” rich at the expense of the “City Dwellers”. Unfortunately, EVERYONE wants to control the Gooferment so they can FORCE others to do their will.
“Money is a matter of functions four, a medium, a measure, a standard, a store.” He repeated that four times like poetry. “Six Characters in Money: Portable – Durable – Divisible – Uniformity – Limited Supply – Acceptability.” — CHURCH 10●19●62 (Vol 1) 978-0-557-08387-9 page 110
Arguing against “hard money”, as opposed to “faith-based money”, is like arguing against the kilogram, meter, and the second. An ounce of something (i.e., copper, silver, gold, palladium, platinum) as money is merely that measure, standard, or store.
And under the Federal Reserve System of “funny money” and all the Gooferment help (i.e., the War on Poverty), how has “the poor” made out?
Four generations of “welfare farmers” is my proof of the “impoverishing” effect of Gooferment, enabled by the “funny money” that allows “guns and butter” spending.
Could we maybe try something else?
# – # – # – # – # 2011-Nov-30 @ 22:33
