Economic and Cultural Decay in the USA

Economic Decay

The USA is in the failure phase of Empire-USA. As I note in my analysis of Empires they ALL suffer failure due to; 1) spending and debt cost for the wars needed to grow and maintain the empire, 2) cost of social welfare and business subsidies to keep the people and business managers happy (and help keep the ‘leaders’ in power), and 3) social decadence due to reliance on government welfare which leads to riots if they are reduced or ended (especially food). Spending and debt for the current “Welfare-Warfare State’ has been at dangerous levels since the 1980s. The ‘hockey stick; increase started in 1971 when Nixon cancelled the dollar’s link to gold. Since then, billions (now trillions) of new dollars were created to pay bills, which creates ‘monetary inflation’ and reduces the value of the US Dollar (USD).

This fake money has distorted our economy, and excessive imports (paid with newly printed dollars) have caused jobs and factories to be ‘off-shored’. Jobless folks are nearing the riot stage as their savings and patience disappear. Sensing this, the Dept. of Homeland Security, and other parts of federal, state and local governments; including the army and police, have stocked-up on guns, ammo, and armored vehicles to fight rioting citizens. It would be better if the governments stopped the riots by not doing the harm described below! The ‘leaders’ prefer to brand complainers as ‘terrorists, traitors, etc.’ when they complain about illegal and immoral government acts at home and abroad. I call them Patriots for seeking honest, legal, and moral government. Secrets about illegal acts should be exposed, not protected!

I list below some of the key indicators that we are in decline, will cease being the top world power, and just be ‘a medium power’ like prior major powers England, France, Spain, and Russia. Most activists agree that China will replace us in our economic, monetary and military dominance.

1. War: As shown in my article (http://activistpost.com/2010/12/13-lies-abbreviated-history-of-us.html#more) all of our wars since the 1776 Revolution have been for economic, political and military gains, not defense, and were started on lies by the President. The problems and causes of our decline discussed in my Sep. 5, 2013 article (http://activistpost.com/2013/09/empire-usa-is-crashing.html#more ) have gotten worse, as predicted, and are discussed below.

2. The World’s Reserve Currency: Worldwide dominance of the USD started after WW1 (the British pound declined), and escalated with the Bretton Woods world monetary agreement in 1944, which made the USD the ‘official’ world reserve currency, with gold set at a fixed value of $35 troy ounce. The world’s reserve currency is defined as; 1) banks hold it as their reserves; good as gold, and 2) most international transactions use it (USD was 70%, now 60%; yen, Swiss franc, and Euro have most of the rest) as a convenience (saves having many types of currency on hand). Thus, as issuer of the world’s primary reserve currency, we are the only nation that can pay its’ bills with newly created money. Charles De Gaulle called it our ‘exorbitant privilege’. Since 1974, when Kissinger made a deal with the Saudis, all oil has been paid with USD (called ‘petrodollars’) which has provided support for our fiat USD (no redemption for gold since 1971), but that support, and thus the purchasing power of the USD is fading as nations tire of dealing with the declining value and political rules of the USD.

3. FATCA: A recent big jab was the start of our ‘Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act’ (FATCA) on July 1, 2014 (and more in July, 2015), which seeks to capture unpaid taxes from US citizens abroad, and imposes a lot of rules, reports, and possible fines, on foreign banks, How arrogant! Many banks are closing accounts of US citizens. They, and private firms, are also working with other nations to use their own currencies to avoid US dominance. This loss of demand for the USD will further reduce it’s purchasing power.

4. Spending and Debt: Politicians, especially those running empires, need lots of money to pay for wars and benefits to keep business managers (campaign donors) and voters happy. Dictators don’t need campaign donations, but they often fail due to riots, or hanging, by angry citizens. Our spending requires massive borrowing, and creation of new money (helped by item 2 above), to pay our bills at home and abroad. Our over $17 trillion in ‘admitted’ debt (plus unfunded liabilities such as pensions and healthcare, adding about $ 140 tn more!) exceeds our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by about 5%, which is considered dangerous by any economist. The net interest (after interest income) on our debt is over $500 bill. per year and will soar to disastrous levels when (not if ) interest rates increase from our current fake low (1% area) levels.

Summary: How to protect yourself from the above decline: Most Investment Advisors continue to use traditional diversification of stocks, bonds, annuities, maybe some real estate, and ALL are denominated in the falling USD! I wrote this article (http://activistpost.com/2013/07/new-factors-in-personal-financial.html#more) to show there are two new elements of diversification; namely currency and legal jurisdiction (nation). Leaving the USD currency and jurisdiction is new to most investors, so requires thought and help. Look at: (http://activistpost.com/2014/01/internationalize-to-protect-and-grow.html ) for information on how to Internationalize your assets. It will be interesting. Time may be short to avoid the USD collapse, and new US laws that can restrict access to your assets, add more taxes, and even confiscate them! Feel free to contact me at [email protected], or 608-469-8922 if you have questions. I can supply information, but not investment advice.

Cultural Decay

There is also decline is in the morals of our citizens and leaders. For example it is considered OK by most people to engage in ‘gang-theft-by-vote’, known as ‘tax the rich’, to force ‘others’ to pay for your own benefits (subsidized health care and pensions, ‘free’ K-12 education, unemployment insurance, etc.). They use terms like ‘fair share’ and ‘common good’ to justify the forced charity! Prior to FDR starting social security in 1935, and LBJ starting Medicare in 1965, most people were careful to maintain good relations with friends, family, and the community, because they might need help someday. This meant being honest, polite, etc. It also affected personal management of health care as to smoking, alcohol, drugs, and obesity. Now that the government gives people all types of benefits, people have less incentive to be ‘respectable’, and considerate of others. ‘Do your own thing’ and ‘get used to it’ were retorts that started in the 1960s. The need for, and pride in, ‘personal responsibility’ has declined. Now instead of 5 or 10% of our population receiving benefits (largely paid-for by others), we have well over 50% at least partly relying on the government!

Here are a few examples of our cultural decline.

1. Public Morals: In addition to more of traditional immorality such as lying, theft, immodesty, and fraud, we see; 1) more profanity and sex on TV (including family-watching hours; at least the French show it after 10pm), and 2) more fighting and excessive violence in pro sports. It used to be limited to ice hockey, but now we see fights in baseball, and basketball.

2. Personal Appearance

Obesity: Since the 1970s we have seen obesity expand (no pun) in both children and adults. The rapid increase (as to percent of population, and inches of fat) is not just caused by careless over-eating, but also because high-fructose corn syrup, which tends to produce fat, was adopted by bakeries and soft-drink firms because it is now cheaper than traditional sucrose. It is cheaper for two reasons; 1) the government subsidizes farmers to grow corn for production of ethanol fuel, and some is used to produce corn syrup, which is high in fructose, and 2) political import tariffs to increase profits (ie, charge US customers more) of our domestic growers of sugar-cane, and sugar-beets (and get their campaign donations), have made sucrose about twice the world price. This is a classic case of ‘unintended consequences’ of government meddling, and shows no signs of being terminated (too many donations and votes at stake).

Tattoos and Metal: Widespread (as to both percent of population and body!) wearing of; 1) tattoos and 2) metal pins and rings pierced in any part of one’s body, both started in the 1980s. These body deformations were once considered low-class, or embarrassing. I view this conduct as signs that more people don’t care what others think of them because it doesn’t matter. Of course ‘times change’ (no more maternity dresses, etc.), but I say these are examples of decline. People now do more weird things because it doesn’t matter much what others think of you!

Conclusion

I could add many more items, but I hope the above information makes the point: ‘We are a failing empire in both the economic and moral sense’. I show nine links below for articles on this subject by authors I respect. I hope the above article changes the habits of a few people and politicians. Let it be your guide in working and voting for good candidates in the big election coming in Nov-2016!

By: David Redick (BS-Eng., MBA-Economics) is an activist for peace and prosperity via better (less) government and free markets. Send comments to [email protected]

Read more at www.activistpost.com; click ‘Contributors’, scroll to ‘Contributing Writers’, then alpha to Redick. Also, see more at Part 8 in the left margin of Dave’s political site www.Forward-USA.org, and go to the Amazon.com ‘books’ section to see Dave’s books; Monetary Revolution USA, How to Protect and Grow Your Wealth, and Rebuild America Now.

Links:

1. A Culture of Delusion, by Paul Craig Roberts, Sep 27, 2012 http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/09/27/a-culture-delusion/

2. The 7 Steps You Need to Take to Protect Yourself—and Prosper— During the Coming Economic Meltdown; by Doug Casey , video-2014

http://www.caseyresearch.com/lg/meltdown-video

3. Dead Souls of a Cultural Revolution; by Patrick J. Buchanan, August 23, 2013

4. How Times Have Changed; by Walter E. Williams, July 31, 2012 http://lewrockwell.com/williams-w/w-williams135.html

5. NOTHING TO LOSE; by James Quinn, November 5, 2013 ,

http://www.theburningplatform.com/ ( also see; www.seekingalpha.com )

6. Challenge to Our Beliefs; By Thomas Sowell www.tsowell.com , December 3, 2013

http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/12/thomas-sowell/does-the-welfare-state-lower-iqs/

7. The Tribal Mentality; By; Adil Elias, December 03, 2013

http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2013/12/3/the-tribal-mentality.html