Mojica: Money Will Be The Death Of Us
The following is a letter to the editor from our very own Sue Mojica (a very dedicated member of the Boston Ron Paul 2008 Meetup Group) which was published in the MetroWest Daily News on August 10th. We are publishing it here in its entirety; the last paragraph (in italics) was omitted.
To the Editor:
A bridge rated “structurally deficient” collapses and speculation abounds…how could this have happened? As our hearts go out to the people affected by this terrible tragedy, I would like to offer a little-discussed but very basic reason for the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. We have too much money.
A surprising statement, I know, but consider this: when an economy is based solely on fiat money, as ours has been for forty plus years because of a process set in motion some fifty years before that, there is never enough, because there is always too much. More units of currency = less value per unit = prices rise = calls for more currency = more units of currency = less value, prices rise, etc., a literal death-spiral to any society.
Consider what happened during the last decade of the 18th century when France tried such a system. The first several issues of paper money had a good effect, but after that it was all downhill to a ruined economy and a demoralized society. Their only recourse was to destroy the machinery, the plates and the paper, which they did on February 18th, 1796. No wonder our founders saw fit to prohibit the use of paper money as a tender in payment of debts (Art I Sec 10).
As I write this, I fear that we are now nearer to the end than the beginning of the inevitable course of fiat money. As the currency depreciates so do our values and the very stuff of our lives. There was enough money to build the Minneapolis bridge some forty years ago, but now there isn’t enough to either maintain the original or build a new and safer one if necessary. That doesn’t make sense, until you understand not only what has happened to our money but also how our relationship to government has changed.
During these last thirty to forty years our previously somewhat limited government has become very much unlimited. This is not surprising since as the money depreciates we all become needier, and the Federal Government, having given itself unlimited capacity to print currency, steps in to help. So, Minneapolis bridge, get in line with all the rest of us who no longer have the means to take care of ourselves. There is no money for you THIS year.
As it turns out however, that last statement might soon no longer be true. I wrote this on Friday morning and by that evening reports were coming in that there may be money for the Minneapolis bridge this year after all. Congress is currently considering an appropriation for emergency repairs and reconstruction, but first members of the House of Representatives must agree to waive the $100 million limitation on such appropriations in order to approve the estimated $150 to $350 million price tag for this one bridge alone. Something is seriously wrong here.
There is a silver lining however, and that is the one candidate in the 2008 Presidential election campaign who publicly acknowledges our predicament and promises to do something about it. His name is Ron Paul and his depth of understanding offers true hope for America.
Susan Mojica
Framingham
