There is an increasing risk of a recession, which has caused Americans to feel uncertain about what lies ahead since Monday’s stock prices plummeted and unemployment is on the rise.
The fluctuations in trading have led some analysts to speculate about the possibility of the Fed implementing a significant adjustment to the benchmark interest rate, while others predict an impending recession, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
JPMorgan Chase has joined the conversation and indicated, according to Fox Business, that the U.S. economy is likely to enter into a recession by the end of the year. Additionally, there is a 45% likelihood of a recession occurring in the second half of 2025. Excerpt from The Dallas Express, August 8, 2024
There are fundamental sources of wealth and there are ancillary sources of wealth. The latter is wholly dependent on the former.
In brief, the only source of wealth is the production of useful goods. A man can get rich selling goods, shipping goods, warehousing goods, servicing goods, and selling goods. But, if there are no goods to ship, warehouse, service, or sell, there is no increase in wealth. These ancillary sources of wealth will be absent.
Farming, ranching, and forestry are also fundamental sources of wealth.
Marxists and socialists subscribe to the modern monetary theory (MMT). Deborah D’Souza, writing for Investopedia, noted:
“Modern monetary theory (MMT) is a heterodox macroeconomic supposition that asserts that monetarily sovereign countries—such as the U.S., U.K., Japan, and Canada, which spend, tax, and borrow in a fiat currency that they fully control—are not operationally constrained by revenues when it comes to federal government spending.
Put simply, modern monetary theory decrees that such governments do not rely on taxes or borrowing for spending since they can print as much money as they need and are the monopoly issuers of the currency. Since their budgets aren’t like a regular household’s, their policies should not be shaped by fears of a rising national debt.“
A theory is a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural. This is in contrast to well-established propositions that report matters of actual fact. MMT is heterodox because this theory contradicts proven capitalism. If we are to accept MMT here in the United States of America, I suggest we nullify all laws penalizing hot-check writing.
MMT has its founding in Marxism and socialist philosophies.
Capitalism is the exchange of goods and services between free people who mutually agree on the value of the exchanges. Capitalism is free enterprise or private enterprise. It is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange. This system is characterized by the freedom of capitalists to run or manage their property for profit in competitive conditions. Socialism is an antonym to capitalism.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt abandoned the gold standard in 1933. It was FDR who founded socialism in America, not Marx, Hitler, Stalin, or Mao.
Warren Buffet, the tenth-richest person in the world, subscribes to MMT. In 2020, Buffet said, “The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default.”
What does history teach us about Germany’s post-WW1 inflation? Learn from Britannica, hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic: “The rising cost of goods, combined with a dramatic increase in the money supply, created perfect conditions for inflation. Before World War I, the exchange rate was just over four marks to the U.S. dollar. By 1920 the value of the mark was 16 times less. It stabilized at 69 marks to the dollar for some months. The Weimar government was still in a position to get a grip on the economy; instead, it chose to print yet more money in order to pay the reparation debt. By July 1922, prices had risen by some 700 percent, and hyperinflation, with too much money chasing goods that were far too scarce, had arrived.“
The Effects of Inflation on Households
Inflation may have slowed last year, but it continued to deal heavy blows — some devastating — on Americans’ livelihoods: Nearly two-thirds of US adults were worse off because of it, and roughly 1 in 6 couldn’t pay all their monthly bills, new Federal Reserve data shows.
The Fed on Tuesday released its Economic Well-Being of US Households report for 2023, examining the financial lives of US adults and their families. The report found that 72% of adults surveyed said they were “doing okay” financially. That’s a tick lower than last year but well below the high of 78% hit in 2021 (and still above the record low of 62% in 2013).
Inflation made the financial lives “worse” for 65% of US households, according to the report. Among those, 19% said it was “much worse.” CNN, May 21, 2024: High inflation made finances worse for 65% of Americans last year
As Good As Gold
Gold has remained the ancient standard for wealth from ancient times. In 1969, my 14kt gold wedding band cost my wife-to-be only $25 because gold was valued at $41.60 per ounce. Today, August 10, 2024, the price of gold is Gold has remained the ancient standard for wealth from ancient times. In 1969, my gold wedding band cost my wife-to-be only $25 because gold was valued at $41.60 per ounce. Today, August 10, 2024, the price of gold is $2,444.60 per ounce. A 14kt gold band now sells for $1,349.99.
What can YOU do to fight inflation?
Vote for conservative candidates. How can you recognize a conservative candidate?
By definition, a conservative candidate is disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. The Rule of Law and the Constitution are sacrosanct. Likewise, conservative Jews and Christians hold the Decalogue and the teachings of the Bible sacrosanct.
A conservative Republican candidate subscribes to and upholds their State Republican Party Platform and the party’s National Platform.
Conservative candidates understand and appreciate true knowledge of history and the Supreme Law of the Land, aka the Supremacy Clause.
Does a self-identified Republican candidate take part in local Republican events and meetings? What is the candidate’s voting record? Does the candidate talk like a Republican but act like a Democrat?
Knowledge is power.
John White
Rockwall, Texas
John N. White 