The most important thing to realize about inflation is that it is controllable and the government, through the super secret and semi-private Federal Reserve, purposely creates inflation.
The inflation tax is a result of a fiat monitary system and government over-spending. Many people are not aware that the U.S. Dollar is not backed by gold or any other commodity. The dollar is backed by a promise to pay back the debt created when printing the dollar.
This video discusses the recent history of hyper-inflation in Zimbabwe and the possibility of it happening in the United States.
Every time the federal reserve prints money for the federal government and commercial banks (and now even non-banks), it increases the number of dollars in the system and thus devalues the dollars that are already in circulation (the dollars in your wallet and in your checking account). Since the Federal Government and Bankers get to spend the newly printed money first, the effect of the extra dollars in the system has not yet hit. The new dollars are just as valuable as those in your wallet when the bankers spend them, but once those dollars have reached 3 or 4 degress of seperation from the bankers (and reaches your hands), the value of all dollars in circulation has been decreased. If the Federal Reserve prints enough money, you will witness a significant increase in your cost of living. Without a raise from your boss (how likely is that in this economy?), you will most likely experience a decrease in your standard of living.
U.S. Federal Reserve Note. *Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
Not only are taxpayers experiencing ever-increasing direct taxes such as gasoline tax, property tax, sales tax, cigarette tax, alcohol tax, etc., but your standard of living is being taxed through the devaluation of your dollars.
Every time the government creates a new program, your standard of living will get worse.
July 17, 2006
All government spending represents a tax. The inflation tax, while largely ignored, hurts middle-class and low-income Americans the most. Simply put, printing money to pay for federal spending dilutes the value of the dollar, which causes higher prices for goods and services. Inflation may be an indirect tax, but it is very real- the individuals who suffer most from cost of living increases certainly pay a “tax.”
Unfortunately no one in Washington, especially those who defend the poor and the middle class, cares about this subject. Instead, all we hear is that tax cuts for the rich are the source of every economic ill in the country. Anyone truly concerned about the middle class suffering from falling real wages, under-employment, a rising cost of living, and a decreasing standard of living should pay a lot more attention to monetary policy. Federal spending, deficits, and Federal Reserve mischief hurt the poor while transferring wealth to the already rich. This is the real problem, and raising taxes on those who produce wealth will only make conditions worse.
Borrowing money to cut the deficit is only marginally better than raising taxes. It may delay the pain for a while, but the cost of government eventually must be paid. Federal borrowing means the cost of interest is added, shifting the burden to a different group than those who benefited and possibly even to another generation. Eventually borrowing is always paid for through taxation.
The third option is for the Federal Reserve to create credit to pay the bills Congress runs up. Nobody objects, and most Members hope that deficits don’t really matter if the Fed accommodates Congress by creating more money. Besides, interest payments to the Fed are lower than they would be if funds were borrowed from the public, and payments can be delayed indefinitely merely by creating more credit out of thin air to buy U.S. treasuries. No need to soak the rich. A good deal, it seems, for everyone. But is it?
The “tax” is paid when prices rise as the result of a depreciating dollar. Savers and those living on fixed or low incomes are hardest hit as the cost of living rises. Low and middle incomes families suffer the most as they struggle to make ends meet while wealth is literally transferred from the middle class to the wealthy. Government officials stick to their claim that no significant inflation exists, even as certain necessary costs are skyrocketing and incomes are stagnating.
The transfer of wealth comes as savers and fixed income families lose purchasing power, large banks benefit, and corporations receive plush contracts from the government-- as is the case with military contractors. These companies use the newly printed money before it circulates, while the middle class is forced to accept it at face value later on. This becomes a huge hidden tax on the middle class, many of whom never object to government spending in hopes that the political promises will be fulfilled and they will receive some of the goodies. But surprise- it doesn’t happen. The result instead is higher prices for prescription drugs, energy, and other necessities. The freebies never come.
The moral of the story is that spending is always a tax. The inflation tax, though hidden, only makes things worse. Taxing, borrowing, and inflating to satisfy wealth transfers from the middle class to the rich in an effort to pay for profligate government spending, can never make a nation wealthier. But it certainly can make it poorer.
WASHINGTON — The president of the World Bank said on Monday that America’s days as an unchallenged economic superpower might be numbered and that the dollar was likely to lose its favored position as the euro and the Chinese renminbi assume bigger roles.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe routinely prints money to fund the budget deficit, causing the official annual inflation rate to rise from 32% in 1998, to 133% in 2004, 585% in 2005, past 1,000% in 2006, and 26,000% in November 2007, and to 11.2 million percent in 2008. Meanwhile, the official exchange rate fell from approximately 1 (revalued) Zimbabwean dollar per US dollar in 2003 to 30,000 per US dollar in September 2007.
Why is this important? It means that China won’t be buying any short-term or long-term US debt. If President Obama and the Congress don’t show any signs of easing up on SPENDING, then the Federal Reserve will have to increase the amount of dollars it prints. If it keeps printing dollars at this rate, then very soon we will see the effects of inflation begin, followed by hyper-inflation. Prices will spiral up and out of control and most of the middle class will become poor and the already poor will suffer the most. The cost of milk and bread will be prohibitively high. Small farms will go out of business, driving prices even higher as competition is diminished.
...the tax code has brought about the employer-provided insurance system that has resulted in less competition and higher prices. The employer-provided insurance system creates yet another degree of separation between the patient, [Insurance Company, Employer] and doctor. This adds another administrative expense, gives less choice to employees and consumers and more control to big business owners, union bosses, bureaucrats and politicians."
"Over time the terms conservative and liberal have changed, and while this idea of labels changing is nothing new, it is important to acknowledge such change and to recognize the meaning to assess where we stand as individuals."
"...the crowd, made up of Obama's economic advisors, has already gathered insisting that they must break the window in order to save the glazier's business and all the merchants that depend on the glazier."
An Open Letter to Congress and the President
"When a business fails, the market (through consumers and investors) has decided that the business is not efficient enough or in high enough demand to exist, therefore, it should and must fail! To prop it up with taxpayer dollars is to take efficient money out of the economy and place it in the inefficient hands of bureaucrats where half of the money will be eaten up by the bureaucratic machine, and the other half will be wasted on a business that the market has already decided must fail."
Our Reaction: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
"US fast-food giant McDonald's said Monday its 2008 net profit soared 80 percent from a year, lifted by growing demand from consumers seeking low-cost meals in a deepening global recession."
"Wall Street is losing faith in Washington's efforts to fix
the financial crisis."
"The size of the problem is growing faster than the banks' ability to
handle it....We're halfway through the bailout money, and the banks
are in worse shape than they were six months ago."
Not only are taxpayers experiencing ever-increasing direct
taxes such as gasoline tax, property tax, sales tax, cigarette tax,
alcohol tax, etc., but your standard of living is being taxed through
the devaluation of your dollars.
Every time the government creates a new program, your standard of living
will get worse.