America Has an Epic Choice

Posted on October 9, 2020 by MN Gordon

“There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion.  The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.” – Ludwig von Mises, Human Action [1949]

Crisis Now or Total Catastrophe Later?

On Tuesday, while still hopped up on anti-coronavirus goofballs, President Trump had a moment of clarity.  After 40 years of near uninterrupted credit expansion, it was finally time to cut it off.  And he was just the guy to do the cutting.

Trump took to Twitter to make his first snips.  He announced that stimulus bill negotiations were severed.  Minutes after, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a 400 point air pocket.  Several hours later, and perhaps following a little tutelage from Mnuchin and Kudlow, Trump reversed course.

We don’t know what Mnuchin and Kudlow said to Trump.  But we suppose they informed him that, at this point, the immediate health of the American economy is contingent on delivering printing press money to citizens and non-citizens alike…who cares if the long-term consequences are catastrophic? Continue reading →

Posted in Inflation, MN Gordon | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments

“In America Money Does Grow on Trees”

Posted on October 2, 2020 by MN Gordon

This week provided additional confirmation that America is fully committed to a program of currency destruction.  Decades of terminal intelligence have gotten us to this special place.  We’ll have more on this in a moment.  But first some words on being fully committed.

We’ve never gutted a hog.  But we hear it’s a bloody mess.  The volume of blood that gushes out – as in, ‘bleeding like a stuck pig’ – is profuse.

Contemplating a bacon and egg breakfast plate reveals two types of commitment.  That of the chicken.  And that of the pig.  You may know this allegory.  The chicken’s involved in providing for the breakfast.  It provides the eggs.  But the pig’s fully committed to it.  For the pig must perish to provide the bacon.

America is presently bleeding like a stuck pig.  Public and private debts are hemorrhaging a bloody mess.  For example, the budget deficit for fiscal year 2020, which concluded on September 30, was $3.3 trillion.  By this, the federal government spent double what it generated via tax receipts and other confiscatory measures.  And the federal debt held by the public is now over 100 percent of GDP. Continue reading →

Posted in Inflation, MN Gordon | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments

Maxine Waters Drops the Hammer on Powell and Mnuchin

Posted on September 25, 2020 by MN Gordon

The days were indeed uncaring during the roll out of the CARES Act.  Lockdown orders.  Business closures.  Mass unemployment.  Daily riots.

These disorders are extensive and lasting.  They’re much greater than a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill.  But doing something is better than doing nothing, right?  An economic downturn should always be combated with legislation and a massive helicopter drop of fake money, shouldn’t it?

The popular account from leading economists and politicians is that without the CARES Act, everything would be much worse.  Therefore, they reason, another stimulus bill is needed.

On the first item, we have some reservations.  How does anyone really know what would have happened without the CARES Act?  How does anyone really know the U.S. economy is better off because of it?

What we do know is that what should have happened, didn’t.  An abrupt purge of bad debt was suspended.  We also know that we’ll be living with a myriad of CARES Act side effects, including a debt encumbered economy, for decades to come. Continue reading →

Posted in Inflation, MN Gordon | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

How to Tackle the Depression Head On

Posted on September 18, 2020 by MN Gordon

“I want to see people get money.” – Donald J. Trump, U.S. President, September 17, 2020

“Now is not the time to worry about shrinking the deficit or shrinking the Fed balance sheet.” – Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, September 14, 2020

Money for the People

The real viral contagion that has infected the American populace is not an illness of the body.  It’s something far worse than COVID-19.  The American populace is suffering from an illness of the mind.

The general malady, as we diagnose it, is the unwavering belief that the government has an endless supply of free money, and the expectation that everyone, except the stinking rich, has claim to it.  Why pursue self-reliance and independence when a series of stimulus acts promises the more abundant life?  This viral contagion’s really ripped through the population in 2020.

For example, just a year ago, the American populace thought they could all live off the forced philanthropy of their neighbors.  That to pay Paul you had to first rob Peter. Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, MN Gordon | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments