What Is Money? Part 11: The Great Default

Gary North
Lew Rockwell.com
Monday, Nov 2nd, 2009

The governments of every major nation are going to default on their debts. There are two relevant questions: (1) How? (2) When?

Establishments around the world all deny this. They have gained power and wealth by means of the expansion of government. They have justified their success by insisting that the government-business alliance is the only way to establish economic growth and economic security for the masses. This claim rests on a more fundamental claim, namely, that an unhampered free market is destructive of economic stability and will inevitably lead to economic depression.

The Establishments are universally Keynesian. John Maynard Keynes’ book, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, was published in 1936. It defended in theory what all Western governments had been doing in practice for at least five years, namely, running huge deficits. Keynes became as close to an academic high priest as any modern scholar ever has. He was the apostle of national government debt. His ideas today are more influential than they were at his death in 1946. We live in the age of Keynes.

I can think of only one major Establishment figure who has broken with the Establishment on the question of the great default: Peter G. Peterson, who was the chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations until 2007. He now runs the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which focuses on the looming bankruptcy of the U.S. government. More than any other person of influence, he has warned of the bankruptcy of the Medicare/Social Security programs and their equivalents in the West.

Peterson a decade ago said that he had spoken with the major leaders of the West about the impossibility of funding these social programs. They all told him the same thing: “I will not be around at that time.” In short, kick the can.

VOTE NOW, PAY LATER

Politicians lie. Voters believe. This is the great symbiotic relationship of democratic politics.

For older Americans, a single mental image above all others illustrates this perpetual relationship. It is their memory of the annual Sunday cartoon in the cartoon strip, “Peanuts,” which was the most widely read cartoon strip – and therefore the most widely read anything – in the United States for at least three decades. The annual cartoon featured two children: the ever-mendacious Lucy, whose hand supported an upright football on the ground, who encouraged the ever-trusting Charlie Brown to run at the ball and kick it. He always believed her. At the last moment, she would pull the ball away, and Charlie would fly into the air, then land on his back. What changed each year was her argument on why she would not pull the ball away, and her final remark to Charlie, as he lay flat on his back. She thought he was stupidly naïve. He was. She always took advantage of him. Her philosophy was clear: “Never give a sucker an even break.”

This scene is repeated every other November in the United States, when voters go to the polls. “This time, it will be different,” cry the Congressional candidates. Then, for the next two years, they pull the ball away.

The only thing to top this exercise in mendacity in the United States is the testimony to each house of Congress delivered by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve System. Not even the President’s annual State of the Union address tops this performance.

The voters never learn. Congress never learns.

The coin of the political realm is the promise. Not money, not power: the promise. Politics sometimes looks like prostitution, with money at the center. This is an illusion. The voters do not come to Congress demanding money. They demand faithfulness. Congress is to the voters what a philanderer is to a mistress. He may shower her with presents, but the presents have meaning to her only because of the promise. “I plan to divorce my wife. It’s just a matter of working out the details.” She likes the presents, but she believes the promise: “You can trust me. We’ll grow old together.” She thinks the presents are forever.

He borrows the money to buy her the presents. When interest rates rise, she will find out just how reliable his promises have been.

This is the heart of modern democracy. Politicians promise undying faithfulness. Voters believe them.

The first political campaign I can remember was the 1952 Presidential election. I recall only one event clearly. It was a singing group at the Democrats’ national convention. They sang the following:

They promise you the sky.
They promise you the earth.
But what’s a Republican promise worth?

 

Then came the chorus:

Don’t let ‘em take it,
Don’t let ‘em take it,
Don’t let ‘em take it away!

 

Eisenhower was elected. Both houses of Congress went Republican. This had not happened since 1928. It would not happen again until 2000. They didn’t take it away. They added more.

The great advantage of political promises is that the politicians who make them will not be in office when the bills come due. The benefits are immediate: votes. The costs are deferred. The supply of promises increases.

These promises rest on assurances. “Treasury debt will continue to have a AAA rating.” “Treasury debt is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.” “There is no alternative to the U.S. dollar as a world reserve currency.” “We owe it to ourselves.” “Deficits don’t matter.” “Inflation is under control.”

With the exception of Austrian School economics, every major school of economic thought believes in at least four of these assurances. Keynesians believe all of them.

So, the supply of promises increases. So does the magnitude of these promises. For as long as investors buy the Treasury debt and the GSE debt (Fannie and Freddie), there will be no reversal of this process.

The advent of the day of reckoning is easy to describe: (1) the upward move of Treasury interest rates, or (2) the upward move of prices in response to the Federal Reserve System’s expansion of its balance sheet – monetary base – to hold down rates.

Then will come the wail of the aging mistress: “But you promised!” Indeed, he did, but a younger mistress has come along, and she wants the presents that he had promised the first one. When lenders start tightening up, a philanderer has to pick and choose among his mistresses. Old ones lose.

But what of the faithful wife? When will she finally wise up and divorce the lying SOB?

I am writing this report for her.

WHY DEFAULT WILL COME

You know about the unfunded off-budget liabilities of the Social Security and Medicare programs. If you don’t know the numbers, go here.

You know about the size of the on-budget Federal debt. If not, go here.

You presumably know about the size of the officially estimated deficits in the on-budget account: at least $900 billion a year until 2019. If not, go here.

Voters are oblivious. They do not care about anything beyond their next paycheck. Investors are oblivious. They do not care beyond the next quarterly report. Congress is oblivious. They do not care beyond the next election.

Am I saying that Congress has a longer-term perspective than investors? Yes. But why? Because investors believe two things: (1) the existing price of any asset reflects the best judgment of the smartest investors; (2) they will be smarter than all these other investors when it comes time to sell and buy gold.

The average American faces his day of reckoning on the first of every month. Congress faces its day of reckoning in November of even-numbered years. Investors do not believe that they, individually, will ever face a day of reckoning. They think they are smarter than the smartest guys in the room, or else they think Ben Bernanke is, and all those other FED economists are, who will see the crisis coming next time and will take steps to evade it.

Congress also thinks that the FED’s economists will find ways to evade the day of reckoning.

Investors and politicians are united. They trust the ability of central banks to evade the costs of political promises. This has been true since 1694, when Parliament granted a monopoly over money to the Bank of England. Parliament wanted a lender of last resort. That was what the head of the Bank of England promised.

The political promises of every nation rest on faith in central banking. The politicians and the investors are united in a confession of faith. This confession of faith rests on an assumption: with fiat money, there can be a free lunch, indefinitely. Every school of economic opinion except the Austrian School also affirms this.

There is a problem with this confession. It is not true. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Fiat money is counterfeit money. It does not create wealth. It destroys wealth.

Congress has promised money. It has also promised wealth. Congress will default on at least one of these promises.

We are back to my original two questions: (1) How? (2) When?

Default has four major forms. We need to consider all of them.

1. OUTRIGHT DEFAULT

This scenario assumes that the central bank refuses to buy the government’s debt. This has not happened since 1694.

At some point, the government will not be able to find buyers at low interest rates. Rates will rise. The economy will sink into a depression. Revenues will decline. Expenditures will rise. The government will not be able to pay all of its obligations. So, it will raise taxes. The depression will get worse. Revenues will again fall.

Investors will know that the government is likely to default. No credit-rating service will have the courage to downgrade the government’s debt, but rates will rise as if they had. The government will reach the day of reckoning. It will default on all of its debts.

Every institution that has government debt in its portfolio will suffer a loss. Its share price will fall. The depression will get worse. Insurance companies will be hit hard. The largest banks, which swapped their toxic debt with the FED at face value in late 2008 will find that they own the most toxic debt of all.

Foreign central banks will refuse to buy any more American Treasury debt. Technically, their portfolios fall to the extent that they held Treasury debt. Then those governments must decide. Should those banks be allowed to inflate to overcome these losses?

The inverted pyramid of debt will topple. The great default will produce the great depression. Unemployment will rise. Depositors will finally go to their ATMs to draw out currency. The banks will default: no withdrawals of currency.

The division of labor will contract. Everyone will get much poorer.

Because a default on all Treasury debt would have such widespread consequences – immediate consequences – economists have argued that this will not be allowed to happen. The central bank will buy the debt. But if it does, at some point it must stop buying or else create hyperinflation. Hyperinflation has the same consequence as default and deflation: a contraction in the division of labor.

I know of only one economist who predicts an outright default: Jeffrey Rogers Hummel. On August 3, 2009, he published an article on the free market site, Library of Economics and Liberty: “Why Default on U.S. Treasuries is likely.” His argument is simple: the only alternative is the Zimbabwe option: hyperinflation.

He goes through the numbers. He makes an impressive case. He does not discuss the level of interest rates that would bring on the crisis, but at some point, the Treasury will have to offer high rates unless the FED intervenes.

He says that the welfare state is going to die, all over the world. I think he is correct. I am not convinced that outright default is likely – not before much higher price inflation arrives.

The strategy of the FED is the same as the strategy of Congress: kick the can.

SELECTIVE DEFAULT

Hummel admits that selective default is a possibility. I think it is more than a possibility. I think it is likely. He writes:

The Zimbabwe option illustrates that other potential outcomes, however unlikely, are equally unprecedented and dramatic. We cannot utterly rule out, for instance, the possibility that the U.S. Congress might repudiate a major portion of promised benefits rather than its debt. If it simply abolished Medicare outright, the unfunded liability of Social Security would become tractable. Indeed, one of the current arguments for the adoption of nationalized health care is that it can reduce Medicare costs. But this argument is based on looking at other welfare States such as Great Britain, where government-provided health care was rationed from the outset rather than subsidized with Medicare. Rationing can indeed drive down health-care costs, but after more than forty years of subsidized health care in the United States, how likely is it that the public will put up with severe rationing or that the politicians will attempt to impose it? And don’t kid yourself; the rationing will have to be quite severe to stave off a future fiscal crisis.

The rationing will have to be severe. The promises will not come true.

INFLATION

There are two forms: mass (up to 50% per annum) and hyper (the sky’s the limit).

Mass inflation seems more likely over the next decade. If the world’s central banks can coordinate the expansion of money, thereby funding the national welfare states, the public will not be able to escape. They will pay the inflation tax.

The ways around this are limited to investing in real goods: commodities, small farms, used goods stores, small-town real estate. Not many people will see this in time. Of those who do, few will take action. These escape hatches are for people who are hedging against default. The average voter has no financial reserves. Of the 20% who do have reserves, 80% will be stuck in conventional investments. They will believe the Establishment’s Keynesian line. “The government can fix it if you just hang on.”

Inflation means the erosion of money. It means a hidden default on the political promises. Why hidden? Because the politicians will blame speculators. They will not blame the Federal Reserve for having bankrolled their promises.

CONCLUSION

Ultimately, it is either the great depression or the Zimbabwe option. Ludwig von Mises called this the crack-up boom. It means the destruction of money and the collapse of the division of labor. It would mean devastation.

I think central banks will at some point refuse to fund governments any longer. They will bail out the largest banks instead. Foreign politicians may force hyperinflation on their central banks, as agents of the government. But as long as the Federal Reserve System maintains its selective independence, it will not adopt hyperinflation as a policy. That would not be in the interest of the largest banks. It would also not be in the interest of central bankers. Their retirement promises would die.

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11 Responses to “What Is Money? Part 11: The Great Default”

1. slavefortheman Says:
   November 2nd, 2009 at 12:10 pm

   It appears we must endure a time of sickness (economic ruin) so that our body (the economy) can become hopefully immune to this disease (The FED) later on.

2. its all planned Says:
   November 2nd, 2009 at 3:07 pm

   The only true “prostitutes” are not the innocent fatherless victims portrayed in the ‘media” as scalpers and blood sucking material vampires’, Those caught in the snare of “power hungry egomaniacial worshippers of evil”. No, the true prostitutes are those beautifully clean scrubbed april fresh smelling sycophants, patronizing “the new world disasterous order”, and taking their monopoly money back to their penthouses in ubania.

3. moon1234 Says:
   November 2nd, 2009 at 3:26 pm

   There is no way out of this. The problem is too large. The only true way out is to jettison the FED, drop future Medicare and Social Security benefits, re-enacting glass-stiegel (To prevent banks from loaning money to investors who don’t purchase real hard assets with a real value), repealing the ability for an instant corporate charter. Corporations will only be given conditional charters for a fixed number years and only for demonstrated public works.

   THAT list of items will never happen. What you WILL see is slow inflation, devaluation of currency so your 5 dollar bill in your wallet only has $1 of purchasing power compared to some other currency.

   The majority of Americans no longer believe in supporting themselves. They would rather be a ward of the state. THIS is the true problem and the only way out is to change that mentality.

   The fact that you are here reading this means you already know more about the economy than 95% of America. It is up to you to take that knowledge and apply it.

   Purchase some rural or suburban property where you can grow vegetables, fruits, cattle, pigs and chickens. If you can run a small farm and have no debt, not even a home mortgage, you will be able to be happy with very little income. You will have food and shelter. Those are the two biggest needs of anyone in a depression. That is why the midwest did not suffer as badly in the great depression. We had such a great abundence of farms and small businesses that were able to survive with very little income.

   Those living in the city are captive to the markets and their prices in order to obtain the things needed to just survive. They will feel the pinch a lot worse.

   Just this year my family planted a garden. We added up just the cost of the tomatoes, peppers and watermelon that we would have had to purchase the store.
   100 green bell peppers ~$1/ea: $100
   25 Watermelon at $4/ea: $100
   75 quarts green beans $2/quart: $150
   75 Quarts of Green Peas at $1.50: $112.5
   100 Quarts of Sweet Corn at $1.50: $150
   25 Acron Squash at $3: $75
   20 Cantelope at $2: $40

   That comes to $727.50 in saved dollars compared to purchasing at the store. The total cost for purchasing seed was $75. So our true savings were $652.50.

   Just this last weekend we went to Gays Mills, WI and purchased 3 Bushels of Apples for freezing, fresh eating and Applesauce. The cost per bushel was around $24 depending on the type of Apple. A bushel of Apples is around 42 pounds. This came out to a cost of around $.57/pound. We then went to Costco to compare prices. The price for the SAME apples from Michigan was $1.25/pound. This means we saved $85.50 just by buying our Apples from the local grower. If you could the 10 gallons of gas we used to go get the Apples then we still saved $58.60.

   We will freeze most of the Apples. As costs rise at the grocer during the winter, we will not feel any impact. We currently purchase beef from a family member at $1.50/pound for Organic grown meat. We don’t have anough land to raise our own yet.

   Work with the local farmers to source your food. You will pay less, get a higher quality product and a friend to lean on if times get tough.

   

   The Transmogrifer Reply:
   November 3rd, 2009 at 9:37 am

   The key to nutritional independence rests with the availability and cost of water, a fact I must have missed in your email.

   Governments control all forms of currency, including land adjacent to water, fiat debt, the property we live on. While I think the point of growing your own food is a good one, the government can easily halt any production of food by cutting off the water supply, or making it so expensive you’ll starve out.

   Governments are the political evolution of religion: blind adherence to a mysterious, distant authority. This is man’s greatest addiction and bane of every “civilization.”

   These religions and governments are inordinately complex, so the benefactors can hide within them and demand everything of their slaves. The idea of these systems is to keep the masses so busy trying to decipher the bureaucratic bullshit, that they will perish in the process.

   I know what I’m talking about after 20 years in a government job that went from bureaucratically difficult to absolutely impossible, with a quantum leap shortly after 9-11.

   They, our glorious leaders and policy makers, have everyone fill out tons of tedious forms, when all the information is written into your ID card and can be scanned in a second. Does anyone doubt the Federal government knows what brand of toilet paper you use and how many wipes per sheet. I rest my case.

4. ChrisAZ Says:
   November 2nd, 2009 at 6:13 pm

   Moon, it reads as if you are ont he right track. You and your family will survive this longer than many others. And you are correct in that the people reading here are probably far more advanced than the general public – as it relates to what is happening right now and what is on the way.

5. truther Says:
   November 2nd, 2009 at 6:39 pm

   I have an urgent message for you, more important than any message you can hear. God is Holy and cannot accept sin(honor thy mother and father…, thou shall not kill, thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not steal, thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor, thou shall not covet..etc…Exodus 20:12-17). Here are some verses that show examples of sin:

   “Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Matthew 5:21-22

   “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Matthew 5:27-28

   “It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.” Matthew 5:31-32

   “For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23. Your good deeds cannot cover up your bad deeds.

   “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6

   “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10-12

   You could be perfect in all the law and stumble at one point and it is as if you broke all of them:

   “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10

   “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17

   God wrote the law on each man’s heart so they are without excuse on judgment day when we will ALL stand before Christ(”Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another” Romans 2:15). The penalty of sin is death and eternal punishment in the LAKE OF FIRE. I am warning you about hell because I love you! You are dead in your sins and headed for hell which is described in the Word as a FIRE THAT QUENCHES NOT(”…the fire is not quenched” Mark 9:44). It is a horrible and terrible place of everlasting torment that people will go because of their sins.

   “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” Luke 16:22-24

   “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;” 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9

   But God has provided a way for each to escape the lake of fire. He sent his Son Jesus(God manifest in the flesh-1 Timothy 3:16) who was conceived by a virgin by the Holy Spirit of God,lived a sinless life, and suffered a horrible death/shed blood and rose again 3 days later to take the penalty of YOUR sins so you dont have to pay for them in hell for eternity! He loved you so much which is why he did it! He is the only one to have fufilled the law perfectly(sinless) and paid the price of the entire world’s sins so that man could be saved on the merits of His perfection(see Romans 5:19). All you must do to be saved is BELIEVE in Him(trust in Him to save you as a sinner). You must admit your lost sinful condition to Him/that you’re worthy of hell, and ask Him to save you by placing complete trust in Jesus ALONE for salvation(an example in the Word of someone doing this- “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” Luke 18:13).It is not even partly by yourselves that you can be saved, but only by the merits of Jesus Christ!

   “For God so loved the world, He sent his only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16.

   “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” 1 John 2:2

   “…Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” Revelation 1:5

   “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

   “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:29-31

   “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Romans 4:5

   “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9-10

   No works or anything you do can save you! May God open your eyes, that one day I may see you in heaven. Read the Word of God(the 1611 King James version- NOT the modern versions, they are corrupt) before rejecting it! Death is fleeting. You may NOT have tomorrow! For death comes when we least expect it! Make sure you are saved TODAY! The Bible condemns the rich, the wealthy, and those who take advantage of the poor, so it CANNOT have been made up by the elite. Because the Word clearly CONDEMNS people such as those! It declares all mankind as sinners(myself included).

   I am a Christian, and love you enough to warn you of the dangers of hell. Beware, the Roman catholic church is NOT Christian! The church CANNOT save you but only Christ! Just because someone says they are a Christian does not necessarily mean they are one(remember the crusades in history? Many were murdered in the name of Christianity. These were no Christians at all by their testimony). Please email me to inquire more. I would be glad to help you out in your search for truth!(my email- livingwaters705@hotmail.com)…To those who slander/mock me, I pray for you and love you anyways and hope you will trust Christ before its too late!

   I call upon my fellow Christians on here to return hate posts with love and blessings. The Lord commands us to love them:

   “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:43-45

   Salvation is not found in good works, rituals, church, the pope, water baptism, good lives, etc….But ONLY found by faith in Jesus Christ the Savior!

   If you need prayer or anything, just let me know! I would be glad to help! I love and care for you, and I have prayed that every person that reads this who do not know the Lord, would one day turn to Christ in faith for salvation for their sins. I beg you to turn to Christ in faith before it is too late! You get ONE chance while living and then it is too late forever:

   “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” Hebrews 9:27

   “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

   “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

   “…there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:21-22

   “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17…….

   

   The Transmogrifer Reply:
   November 3rd, 2009 at 9:40 am

   truther is a cut and paste profit, please beat your meat in your “bible” and stay the fuck off this website. Thank you

   

   Learnedthehardway2000 Reply:
   November 3rd, 2009 at 11:24 am

   You mean, a “cut and paste PROPHET”?

6. Surfergirl Says:
   November 2nd, 2009 at 9:41 pm

   Revelation originated from King James who was a freemason who tortured and killed tens of thousands of people. Revelations comes from King James’ DiVersion of the Bible. He is the sixth son of who? Listen to Dr. Carley 10/31/09’s program: http://thelightofdayradioshow......lFree.html

   You know society has descended back into the stone age when the herbalist healers were called witches and killed by the religious and political leaders of the land while the White Coats were made into respected authorities of health and were given legal right to inject their various deadly witche’s brews of cow pus, cancer virus’, aborted human fetus, MSG, Aspartame, Mercury, Aluminum, food dyes, mycoplasms, etc. nto the blood of the young and the ignorant.

7. 3rd Relevant Question Says:
   November 2nd, 2009 at 10:53 pm

   3rd relevant question: With what will it be replaced, and how will the nations valued their currencies against one another.

   4th relevant question: How do we then prevent a return to robber-baron gilded age factory slave economy, on the one hand, or on the other hand, a return to local Boss-Hogg, racist mafia economics on the other hand???

   

   Learnedthehardway2000 Reply:
   November 3rd, 2009 at 11:25 am

   Say what?? please speak in English.