Thin Air

The chairman of the Federal Reserve appeared on Capitol Hill today to answer vexing questions about the American economy. Ron Paul, the Republican presidential candidate from Texas asked Bernanke about inflation. It is Ron Paul’s contention that inflation is directly tied to the M3, which is our money supply, hence the more money America has in circulation, the cheaper the money becomes. Paul noted that our money supply was increasing yearly to a rate that is unsustainable. He cautioned that you can't create wealth out of thin air. Although Congressmen aren’t my favorite breed, I agree with Mr. Paul. Wouldn’t it be great if Americans could do what our government is doing and go down their basement (providing they have one) and start cranking out dollar bills on a printing press. That’s exactly what America’s elected leaders have been doing for years, ever since those same leaders allowed America to abandon the gold standard.
In the politician’s eyes there is no crisis. Rising national debt? Hey, no problem. Just crank out more money to pay the bill. Crashing housing market? No problem. Crank out more money so that the greedy crooks in the housing market don’t get blamed for what’s happened and they can continue to steal from the taxpayers. Don’t worry about Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class. They can take care of themselves. It’s long been Washington’s paradigm to take care of the filthy rich because that‘s who takes care of them. Never mind all the honest, hard-working Americans, that is not their concern. Only the next election matters and those weasels will do anything, anything, to win that race.
But now things are slowly starting to catch up with them. The entire American economy is beginning to crumble. Our insatiable spending habits are coming back to haunt us. There are signs everywhere of a financial catastrophe. It’s not only the housing market, but every other segment of the marketplace is beginning to whither. Three dollar gas will look like charity in the near future. Most of the world’s people spend about six bucks per gallon of gas. Now it’s our turn. Better not put off turning over the soil for that organic garden you‘ve been contemplating. And you might want to think about purchasing a reverse osmosis device for under the kitchen sink. Clean water will be increasing in value each year. Wars will be fought over it. Human Beings can live for weeks without food but only a few days without water. Hang onto your hats because I predict that in the next three years America will undergo a significant change in their style of living. And it won’t be in an upward spiral. It’s all our fault too.