We are now entering the anger phase of inflation. After relying on government to promise and deliver by redistribution of wealth and borrowing and printing of dollars the American people are beginning to realize the “goodies” are slipping away. The rest stops in states are closing, the students are getting hosed on tuition, the seniors are told there was no inflation so their COLA will not be being sent out and the failing infrastructure repairs must be postponed until “the economy recovers’. ‘Meanwhile self proclaimed intellectuals such as Paul Krugman keep harping on the value and necessity of more government spending as a cure for an ailing economy. All this is symptomatic of where a mixed economy goes when it slithers into the dark recesses of totalitarianism.
When the move by Congress was made to deceive the voters with the bogus findings of the Boskin Commission the wheels were set in motion to misreport the actual rate of inflation. By dumping the measurements of food and fuel as too volatile ( how bogus is that?), the largest components of the CPI were relegated to insignificant so that the FED could not worry about inflation and keep interest rates low to “stimulate” the economy. The problem with this whole manipulation and distortion is, it didn’t work. Why? Because you can tell the people inflation is not a worry but the reality of the rising prices cannot be hidden from day to day life. As food and fuel skyrocket the costs of other areas like tuition, insurance and state budgets feel the increases and respond. This makes people mad. They pay taxes to have “free” or cheap education, restrooms along long stretches of highways and they get resentful that no matter how high their taxes go there is nothing to show for it. Yet the politicians say they are working on fixing it by doing what broke it first. This creates anger.
The squeaky wheel analogy then gets rolling. Those who make the loudest noise and do the most protesting will get some action from politicians who will try to quell the riots and shouts of the discontented. Those who see this works will duplicate the actions and we will see increasingly more violence and riots as prices continue to climb. The government will revert to the old standby price controls and that will create more shortages and even more discontent. “Black” markets that are really the only rational alternative to government bungling of the economy will flourish.
We have seen the riots in socialist countries such as France where inflation raised its ugly head and precipitated anger, then riots. As the governments accede by printing and borrowing more, the inflation roars on waiting like a conflagration to send another spark into the tinder of unrest. The anger phase is unpredictable in specifics but generally is not only predictable but occurs with absolute certainty. People sit on pins and needles hoping it will not erupt in their arena but eventually all are affected.
Why did we arrive at the anger phase? Like any issue if you ignore it long enough it grows in intensity and consequences. This was predicted to the politicians and they scoffed and ignored. It was questioned in academia but the books that projected and warned of such historical happenings were not opened or studied. Only the ignorant phraseology of the past was regurgitated and fed to the open mouths of ignorant chirpers just asking to be fed. What they were fed was never seriously questioned and the results are exactly what was ignored. The endless grants and loans and subsidies ( which depended on private profit making businesses) are drying up because of the hate for profits that was preached in academia and regulated by government charlatans who want to get away with deception as long as they can. The party is over. The Tea Party movement expressed the pent up discontent with the direction of government bullying and spending. This was a warning of what was to come. It was dismissed by the dolts who live in protected arenas of discourse subsidized by publishers who haven’t a clue what is being foisted upon the readership as long as they are making enough to continue to operate. The mainstream media has polluted itself to such an extent it is clogging up the channel with such bunk that only the brainwashed residual is willing to sip from the trough of sewage that flows daily into the streets. In spite of the collapse and discontent all around them, they quaff on as they did in their “learning” years without questioning, without doubt, without what should have been a a rational fear.
Now real fear will set in. The attacks will be sporadic and profound. They will come from arenas that will be suddenly disrupted and devastated. Devaluation will be on the horizon, inflation rampant in the streets, government scrabbling will disrupt even further and the peaceful everyday routines will turn into desperate queues of grumbling waiting to erupt into mindless rebellion.
This did not have to be. The ideas that would have prevented this were scoffed at and untried. Better to try what hasn’t worked and expect something other than history than to listen to a well reasoned approach that counters such misery. This is the result of a culture spoon fed on the pablum of socialism under the auspices of left and right. The left and right and moderates were all false alternatives that worked together to reach the discontent of today. Just as the Health Bill should be scrapped, so too should the notions of liberals and conservatives and moderates. All of these terms refer to a mixed economy montage eventually destined to sink into socialism. The right of today has no more understanding of capitalism than the left. Both attack it for being something they cannot morally defend but that is not the fault of capitalism. It is the fault of the common moral outrage of altruism they have swallowed and cannot digest. Capitalism is not an altruistic system. It does not require or promote sacrifice. That is the constant demand of the conservatives, the liberals and the moderates. It is the cardinal “virtue” of the bog of socialism. Socialism requires the sacrifice of lives in non-self interest wars that are lingering stalemates. Socialism requires redistribution of wealth and egalitarian goals that never happen. Socialism makes a mockery of services such as health care and retirement by pushing unsustainable subsidies and payouts to citizens forced to enter these ponzi schemes that eventually collapse. Those in power then ask again for sacrifice as they wallow in luxury and pompous glorified stature. This is what you get from buying into their deception and manipulation. This is all that is possible in their dream world that is a blatant lie.
The anger phase of inflation is ugly and disturbing. It is a legacy for the young about to embark on their careers and training. Such plans will be disrupted by the spontaneous outbursts of rage that they are being denied what was affordable and available. It will get worse. The anger phase is upon us and we all know how in a state of anger we lash out in unpredictable and often damaging ways. Just as the government is now seeing its protocol being interrupted by the mad member of congress, of the outraged supreme court justice so too will the citizen ( as many already have) rebel until the roar is heard around the world.
What is the phase of inflation following the anger phase? Then comes the chaos and collapse which is the subject of a later essay.
Tags: Inflation
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