“To combat the depression by a forced credit expansion is to attempt to cure the evil by the very means which brought it about; because we are suffering from a misdirection of production, we want to create further misdirection–a procedure that can only lead to a much more severe crisis as soon as the credit expansion comes to an end.” – Friedrich August von Hayek, Introduction to “Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle,” 1932
Hayek won a Nobel Prize for his work explaining what caused, worsened and prolonged the Great Depression. “Austrian School” economists have ever since warned us about what’s now unfolding before us as an even greater socioeconomic catastrophe.
Putting this into a political perspective, Libertarians have been right and the other parties have been wrong. Americans have believed the proven nonsense of the entrenched powers to our undoing.
Putting this into still another perspective; you are the victim of highly organized crime. You’ve been robbed, and the theft will continue until you stop it.
OK, so now what?
First, as Hayek pleaded, we must stop misdirecting the markets; and by extension, we must stop voting for/empowering those who’ve misdirected the markets. Fire the thieves/cheats/liars. You must.
Next, we must prepare for some tough times. As I’d warned in the 2000 gubernatorial bid, “We’ve had our years of plenty, and now we must prepare for the years of hard times.” And we have far less time now than we had in 2000!
As an immediate measure, I propose massive budget cuts, refusal of unfunded/underfunded “federal” mandates, and reactivation of voluntary social services (churches, fraternal organizations).
I also propose we immediately invoke the Indiana Constitution’s Article 11 with a currency backed by gold or silver, to immunize Hoosiers against the deflation/collapse of the dollar.
Here’s Section 7: “All bills or notes issued as money shall be, at all times, redeemable in gold or silver; and no law shall be passed, sanctioning, directly or indirectly, the suspension, by any bank or banking company of specie payments.”
This Sound Money Proposal can be implemented by electronic/virtual acquisition of assets such as described at http://www.goldmoneybill.org/.
We’d better do this fast…