Thread: The Jackass Whisperer

Warnings against feeding and growing your own Leviathan! Not only is it hideous, but it grows rabid.

"There are those who believe that a government whose authority is strictly circumscribed is the weaker on that account. It appears to them that numerous functions and numerous agencies give the state the stability of a broader base. But this is purely an illusion. If the state cannot go beyond certain definitely established limits without becoming an instrument of injustice, ruination, and plunder, without upsetting the natural distribution of industry, satisfactions, capital, and manpower, without creating potent causes of unemployment, industrial crises, and poverty, without increasing crime, without having recourse to ever more stringent repressive measures, without stirring up discontent and resentment, how will it derive any guarantee of stability from these accumulated elements of civil disorder?

...it seems evident to me that to restrict the public police force to its one and only rightful function, but a function that is essential, unchallenged, constructive, desired and accepted by all, is the way to win its universal respect and co-operation. Once this is accomplished, I cannot see from what source come all our present ills of systematic obstructionism, parliamentary bickering, street insurrections, revolutions, crises, factions, wild notions, demands advanced by all men to govern under all possible forms, new systems, as dangerous as they are absurd, which teach the people to look to the government for everything. We should have an end also to....crushing and inevitably inequitable taxation, to the ever increasing and unnatural meddeling of politics in all things, and to that large-scale and wholly artificial redistribution of capital and labor which is the source of needless irritation, of constant ups and downs, of economic crises and setbacks. All these and a thousand other causes of disturbances, friction, disaffection, envy, and disorder would no longer exist; and those entrusted with the responsibility of governing would work together for, and not against, the universal harmony."

Individual responsibility cuts the slop fed to Leviathan.........

"We see, then, that in almost all of the important actions of life we must respect men's free will, defer to their own good judgment, to that inner light that God has given them to use, and beyond this to let the law of responsibility take its course." Frederic Bastiat

Don't stick your hand to far into the cage, son!

More Bastiat,....

"The truth - the deplorable truth - is that a taste for holding office and a desire to live on the public money is not a disease restricted to either party, but the great, chronic ailment of the whole nation; the result of the democratic constitution of our society and of the excessive centralization of our Government; the secret malady which undermined all former governments, and which will undermine all governments to come."

To those who wish for the beast to feed and care for them, to make them as healthy as Hansel and Gretel. Fattened fingers only due to their mere existence and their promise of support at the polls.................

"Poor people, what deception awaits you...The whole mechanism consists of taking ten from you in order to give you back eight, without counting the actual freedom which will be succumbed in the operation."

Is there anything more disgusting than a delusional public led by a tyrannical government?

Beware of buying into the conceptualization of words.

Hence the name "Dollar" would be one such word that offends some of the more organic, or no-nonsense type gold bugs and economists.

The name "Dollar" denotes a nationalistic tone. It is meant to instill pride and confidence in the issuing government and gives explicit control of the medium of exchange to the said government. All nations use their own words, Pound, Real, Renimbi, Sterling, Mark, Franc, etc. to instill pride and confidence, and control of their currency.

While this name "Dollar" was backed by gold at one time, there seemed little offense to be had by naming your gold with a nationalistic title for your medium of exchange. Since the de-coupling of the "Dollar" from its backing, gold, one still has a "Dollar" and the confidence has transfered from the gold backing to the "piece of paper" with no backing.

The true gold bug, in a perfect world would not care of the name, nor would wish to name his currency, as a predetermined and universally recognized unit of weight would do the job just fine. An ounce of gold, a half ounce of silver, a tenth of an ounce of gold, etc. would be universal in nature, transend borders, have natural as opposed to nationalistic confidence in the medium of exchange, and deprive politicians and other self interested parties of a gain in the confidence trick market place of ill concieved ideas.

Whether one likes the name "Dollar" or not is not the point, it is understanding that names when given an implied weight and instilled confidence by a government, or self interested groups or individuals can lead into blind alleys where one could find themselves being "jacked-up" by their own lack of thorough understanding of what they bought into.

Gold and silver do not change. They are what they are. When gold or silver is linked to a "currency" or a piece of paper, the confidence of the gold or silver is transferred to the "currency", the piece of paper! Your medium of exchange (since the de-coupling from gold) is now a piece of paper with a nationalistic name and nothing but confidence, or faith in said government and the force of law to accept such a "Dollar" as a "medium of exchange."

So then there was the King that demanded of Paracelsus the secret of alchemy. Paracelsus' reply, "Surely your majesty realizes that it's your majesty who knows the secret to transmutation, not this humble physician. King's don't merely change base metal to gold, but rather change nothing to gold--by granting licenses to banks to declare credit!"

Paracelsus, born Philippus Aureolus Theophastus Bombastus von Hohenheim 1493-1541 Swiss Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer and general occultist, and student of Hermetic, neoplatonic and Pythagorean philosophies.

Paracelsus' reply, coupled to his resume is interesting in the fact that Hermetic philosophies search for higher consciousness, an etheric state of being. Mysticism, magic, illusion, numerology, sybolism, secrecy, and perception all tallied together for a greater wisdom becomes an aphrodisiac for some elites and wannabees.

There is the "magic" of slight of hand, then there is the "magic" of slight of mind, where words and symbols, guarded knowledge which is just very clever and well thought out control tactics are used to gain power.

A Central Bank System and the United States by Paul Warburg, as presented as an address to the American Economic Association, Dec. 30, 1908

In dealing with the problem of a "Central Bank of the United States," one should properly discuss first the advantages and disadvantages of the central bank system in general, and then the particular problem of a central bank of the United States.

For the purpose of this discussion, however, I may take it as a matter of agreement, that in the present state of our civilization, wherever circumstances permit of its establishment, the central bank system is the most suitable and efficient. When the millenium comes, when the reign of eternal peace is ushered in, and when competing armies and navies no longer exist, we may see a system which will centralize all of the gold of all countries into one big international reserve, or a system which can be operated without the use of gold at all, as some theorists, like Prof. Knapp, of Strassburg, forsee. I, for one, do not believe that either we or our great-grandchildren shall have to discuss these possibilities as more than theoretical questions.

The above is just the opening two paragraphs of the address. It was published in the American Economic Asssociation Quarterly, 3rd series, vol. x, no. 1

The summary of a recent investigation undertaken by the Banking Law Journal discloses the fact that out of 5,613 answers given by national and state bankers to the question: "Do you favor a central bank if not controlled by 'Wall Street' or any monpolistic interest?" 59 1/3% were affirmative, 7% were undecided, and 33 2/3% were negative. Almost all of the negative answers, as far as published, are based upon the arguement that a central bank, if established could not be permanently be kept out of control of political or "Wall Street" control. Between the opponents and the champions of a central bank plan there is complete unanimity of opinion that such a system should be tried in our country only if the dangers of "Wall Street" or political control can be absolutely averted.

The above is the 1st paragraph of a paper presented by Paul Warburg March 23, 1910, later published in Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, vol. 1, no. 2

The moral hazard arguement lasted for how long? Morality or profit? Tough choice........................

Also of interest is the structure of the first paragraph. The twisting of the "if" "Wall Street" could be isolated, after the dissents felt that it could not be done. Classic switch and twist some more.