Way back before Alan Greenspan became Chairman of the Federal Reserve, he penned a now famous essay for inclusion in Ayn Rand's book, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.  In the article, Greenspan explains the stability and logic behind a gold-standard-based money system, and then makes the following observation:

"But the opposition to the gold standard in any form — from a growing number of welfare-state advocates — was prompted by a much subtler insight: the realization that the gold standard is incompatible with chronic deficit spending (the hallmark of the welfare state). Stripped of its academic jargon, the welfare state is nothing more than a mechanism by which governments confiscate the wealth of the productive members of a society to support a wide variety of welfare schemes."

Two major points can be seen in this small excerpt:

1. our government does not want a sound money system because it would not allow them to get away with deficit spending

2. inflation and deficit spending are a hidden way the government can take from the productive and give to the free-loaders

Our nation is in an idealogical war between those who want to ride in the cart and those who are pulling it.  For too long the cart-pullers have allowed themselves to become loaded down with sneaky, subtle, guilt-inflicting, victim-mentality, falsely-compassionate, welfare-state-minded free-loaders.  Ayn Rand, never one to pull a punch, called these free-loaders "looters."  

Overloaded Truck  

The original rebellion in the American colonies was instigated by less than 2% taxation!  Assuming anyone reading this is a cart-puller and not a free-loader, your likely level of taxation is somewhere between 48 and 64%, once considering federal income tax, property tax, Social Security, Medicare, school and local taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes, telephone taxes, tolls, licenses and fees, and in many cases state income tax. 

According to author and political commentator Amity Schlaes, fully 40% of the U.S. population are now riding in the cart.

This can not go on much longer.

 

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12 responses to “Unsound Money System Needed by Government for Wealth Confiscation”

  1. Jason Hobson Avatar
    Jason Hobson

    As with any defunct system, the cart is starting to fall apart, but they are turning a blind eye to that fact. As the cart crumbles before their eyes, they are told to look at the horizon to the flock of buzzards that have started to circle. But they have told us that the buzzards are not buzzards, but morning doves here to bring in the dawn of peace. “Peace in our time” A farce that only the foolish will believe and the rest of us will be coerced into partaking in of. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for peace, but there is no peace without Justice. There has is ALWAYS consequences for your actions. The actions of our “leaders” is the chief cause of the crumbling cart. It’s hard to stand behind the “leaders” of our country, when they are not willing to stand up for our country like we had appointed them to do! Keep up the great posts Chris!
    God bless and God speed.

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  2. Jeff Mann Avatar
    Jeff Mann

    Chris, the Truth will hopefully set us cart pullers free … or at least put us on the path to freedom.
    I’m thankful for the chance to be one of millions who’ll pull the TEAM’s cart !!
    Jeff

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  3. Terry Avatar

    Chris,
    This fiscal insanity is amplified when one looks at the so called “Stimulus Package”. One trillion is a huge number. If you spent one million dollars a day, since the day Jesus was born until today, you would not have spent a trillion dollars yet. When you consider the fact that an “emergency bill” was passed a few days later, or the Federal Government would run out of money, it is pretty easy to determine that we are not in a position to spend a trillion dollars we do not have! Our children, and theirs will bear this burden, along with the rest of us.
    The Stimulus is a flawed concept, in that in does not create value. The government is not in the business of creating value. They are in the business of consuming part of our GDP, and using it to accomplish what only a Federal government can do, defense, infastructure etc. Taking money from producers, and spending it somewhere that the producers do not want it does not create value, and therefore will stimulate nothing. It might make a few special interests happy, and secure some more votes, but it will not in the long run help the economy any more than a vandal throwing a brick through a window of a factory helps the economy. Sure, the glazer is happy, he got a job selling a plate of glass. But the shop owner is not happy. He was going to invest in new capital, expansion, a new product line, new hires. Now he gets to pay for a window he did not want or need. No value creation by the vandal. Unfortunately, we have many in Washington standing there with a big pile of bricks!
    Stay Strong,
    Terry

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  4. Cathy Avatar
    Cathy

    Chris,
    I know a young family personally that lives by the welfare state mentality.
    One of the young couple was raised by parents who lived all their lives in the welfare system, taking anything and everything the government could or would give them. It was how this person was raised to think, and educating this person to think beyond this is a challenging prospect, indeed. Sometimes, it feels like we’re making progress, and then this person says something else that reveals to us how much more education we have yet to accomplish. There are truly days when we wonder if we will ever succeed . . .
    The other young person was raised by a hard working middle class family. This person comes from generations of people who worked for what they had, and that’s what this person was taught to do, too. For this person to so willingly embrace the welfare mentality is beyond comprehension for us.
    Their child gets WIC and any other payments they can get from the state. All of them depend completely on state Medicaid for their health care.
    They don’t see anything wrong with us working hard for what we earn, and paying out so huge a proportion of our income in taxes, so they don’t have to work, or work hard. One of them is unemployed right now, and accepts the unemployment payments as their “right,” because “they paid into it when they were working.”
    They accept SSDI as if it was their right, when we and they know the one who was raised by hard working parents had their parents turn it down time and again, because the parents believed the Bible teaches parents are to be responsible for raising and providing for their children, and not the state. They also know of our repeated warnings that acceptance of state assistance would mean equal acceptance of state interference in their lives, and it just doesn’t seem to matter to them.
    This situation wounds and grieves us deeply on a personal level. This is, in fact, one of the hardest posts I’ve ever had to write on here or anywhere else. Why? Because the one of the couple from the hard working parents, who was definitely raised to know and do better, is none other than our own daughter . . . And their child is our own beloved granddaughter . . .

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  5. Brent Campau Avatar
    Brent Campau

    In one of your talks, to be left unnamed, you say (paraphrase) “I’m not talking about a radical revolution like turning over the money changer tables…” Well, I, for one, am actually cool with that tactic…for the record.

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  6. Dave in FL Avatar
    Dave in FL

    I am Stupid.
    I believed what they told me.
    Go to college, get a job and life will be better. You will do better than your father or grandfather did. Mowing lawns, cutting firewood, driving a 4×4 truck, living at home on the farm wasn’t making it. Now, I’m a packaging engineer. Somehow, when well meaning parents decided to make life “better” for me something was lost in the process.
    They took away the struggle and made it easier.
    Today “kids” dont have to struggle. Some that struggle commit suicide because they cant take it.
    I think many of us have lost our guts. Guts are something you earn.
    You learn by the struggle that you will always have to struggle to pull yourself to a better spot in life, until you die.
    It’s why I dont fully appreciate what I’ve been told by the ones who have struggled and succeeded. It’s a disconnect for me, struggle and succeed.

    I don’t know enough to limit the play until after the pay.

    On the freeloader post above- I think many of us are coddled by our parents and we become polluted with the freeloader notion. I mean a little wouldn’t hurt, right?
    It just becomes more and more till it slams you. Everyone wants to coddle you and me into thinking we are not good enough and we need help.

    Imagine if for one month all of us wage earners could change our w-2’s to 99 so no taxes were taken out of our paycheck. You think the money flow would change and some one would feel the pinch?
    Dave in FL

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  7. Dave in FL Avatar
    Dave in FL

    For the Post By Cathy;
    We, are not taught to think.
    Who has a mentor?
    Which guy is a spiritual leader of a family and a believer in GOD, the father of Jesus Christ?
    I firmly believe that my belief in GOD limits my acceptance of the lies being fed to the non-believers who seem to willingly believe the trash put out by the Federal Gov.
    My stepson is a nonbeliever. Will he wakeup in time? Who knows?
    I cant make anyone believe. When Jesus Christ knocks at your heart you will answer and invite him in
    or leave the door closed.
    In the Bible it says to first accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, get him in your heart, then and only then, can all things be added to you.
    Did your kids see the movie – Fireproof- ?
    Jesus was a people relationship builder/leader.
    We cant do it on our own with out the Help of Jesus Christ.

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  8. Cathy Avatar
    Cathy

    Dave in FL,
    Yes, my kids saw “Fireproof.” We all did.
    My daughter was raised in an active Christian home, by Bible believing, ministry participating parents who have lived their creed to the best of their ability every day of their lives. My husband took his role as spiritual head of the household seriously. We did the best we could by her. Her choices as an adult are her own, and oppose every bit of counsel we give her most of the time.
    Our daughter claims to be a Christian, despite speech and behavior that opposes her talk much of the time. It can be a challenge of a witness to her minimally-Catholic-raised faith-confused husband!
    I was saved as a young teenager. My husband was saved in college. Being a believer was the first criteria for a spouse for both of us when we were dating. Hard worker was the second. Great personality and the ability to make the other laugh was third. Yes, we had our priorities straight.
    Our son, by the way, is nothing like his sister. Both are special needs, and his are worse than hers. He works for a living. He wants more out of life. He’s a proud member of TEAM Mona Vie, and a hungry student. It’s hard for him to learn, and yet he does all he can to learn.
    We did all we could to teach and train our kids “in the way they should go,” according to the Scriptures and best child-rearing techniques we had. My mentor in child-rearing (and my best friend and sponsor in TEAM Mona Vie) is a child development specialist, and was and is a constant consultant and guide.
    You know, Dave, just because it’s taught in the home, doesn’t always mean it’s caught . . . There is a responsibility every individual has, and each one must individually face it . . .

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  9. René Hince, from Winnipeg, MB Avatar
    René Hince, from Winnipeg, MB

    First of all, I believe that what people don’t realize about working to earn a living is that it actually feels good. I feel that people are afraid to look at new information that requires them to change. Whether it’s new information concerning products we use are not safe for the environment that we should stop using, or whether it’s something or someone that shows them that they should be responsible for their own results in life. “It’s just too hard, I’ll never be able to live that way” they think to themselves. What they don’t realize is that although accepting new information makes us responsible to implement things in our lives, it also removes the “I don’t want to”. Because it feels good to know you CAN do it, and DID do it. To be in control of OURSELVES. It’s much more about that, than it is about how much we can produce, or what we have to offer society in terms of labour (although that is also important). An individual who is confident, has grabbed life by the horns, and has EARNED the resources to bless themselves and those around them is the far greater asset to society, in my opinion. They are a beacon of the emotions they exude, and inspire others to follow. That is the way I see leadership in some of the most inspiring, accepting people I know: They simply have decided to change themselves, and are so happy doing it, that it makes you want to do it too.
    I feel that today’s generations are MUCH less concerned with production, and work in general than previous generations. Their attitude is more centered around WHO we are as people vs WHAT we can offer (Who you are defines what you do, vs What you do defines who you are). And I think that’s a great thing, because we’re realizing that as a society we cannot continue to strive for possessions only, but focus on people and that the worth of a person is the infinite beauty of them existing, not what we can use them to build. What is missing is for people to be educated about how it BENEFITS A PERSON ON THE INSIDE when they get up and get into action to be the masters of their own destiny. Although a homeless person is just as valuable as someone who works their 80 hours a week, he is like a dirty window. The window is no different than any other, but it may not be letting the most light shine into other people’s lives. They can’t necessarily bless those around them, because they depend on others just to survive. When someone is in survival mode, it’s all about them (and has to be, or else they die). But when one has earned the means to live and bless others… the light is getting through the glass!
    I feel that we should
    1) Have more education in schools and at home around the subject of finances, rather than employment. We should find out what lifestyle people are searching for, and help them figure out how to manage their finances to get there, instead of pushing them to decide what career they want… or worse, not discussing it at all. If we spend more time discussing finances, and get people fired up for their dreams, they will be more willing to do the grunt work and even work uninteresting jobs to obtain what they desire.
    2) Put more emphasis on finding people’s strengths, than finding them a career. If all your life, people have been steering you one way or another towards some job, and you almost feel like there’s a group of people scheming as to how to get the most out of you to benefit society… you won’t be very enthused about working. But if all your life, people had been helping you pin-point your strongest areas, and showing you what types of activities or careers would develop those strengths and build you up as a person… by the time you are ready to get started in the workplace, you will have a far better idea of where you fit in the grand scheme of things. Our society instead keeps telling us what we’re not good at and will never be good at, at to settle for something that will be best for our pocketbooks. I feel that if we cultivate people’s strengths, they will find their place all on their own, no matter how hard it is, because they will be doing something that fires them up.
    Let’s remember to love people, and use things, not use people and love things. Developing and educating people will help us all grow!
    Much love,
    René

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  10. Stuart Colvin Avatar
    Stuart Colvin

    Chris: Great articles & comments that make us all think! Saw a reference on CNN to how much debt the government now has and what that means for each of us, $184,000 for every man, woman & child! Very interesting website: http://www.owenandpayne.com
    Stuart.
    California.

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  11. Cathy Avatar
    Cathy

    Chris,
    In the May, 2009 issue of “Reader’s Digest” I found the following list. The article on page 18 said is adapted from the book “The Richest Man In Town” by W.Randall Jones.
    I thought it would interest you and your readers. It sounds an awful lot like what you and the other Team leaders teach all the time!

    The 12 Commandments of Wealth
    1. Seek money for money’s sake, and ye shall not find.
    2. Find your perfect pitch. (Know your strengths and weaknesses.)
    3. Be your own boss.
    4. Get addicted to ambition.
    5. Wake up early. Be early.
    6. Don’t set goals — execute or get executed.
    7. Fail so you can succeed.
    8. Location doesn’t matter. Success can take place anywhere.
    9. Moor yourself to morals.
    10. Say yes to sales.
    11. Borrow from the best — and the worst.
    12. Never retire.

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  12. John Dickinson - Team One Purpose! Avatar

    Chris,
    I loved the way Alan Greenspan would talk to Washington. I miss him 🙂
    Thanks for the enlightenment!
    John

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