Economics 101 is back in session

I've been attempting for many months now to warn readers about the economic tsunami that's on the way. We can either sit here on the beach with our heads firmly buried in the sand, or we can begin now to take preventative corrective action.

I believe that's what talking heads like to refer to as being "proactive," but I've never been able to decide if being proactive means only that one is "in favor of action," but not necessarily active.

The basic idea that I feel compelled to attempt to get across is: If a nation prints money, without that money having been backed (i.e. created) by the production and sale of things (other than services), then that money will be increasingly worthless; it will cause rapidly increasing inflation and eventual economic collapse.

That, my friends, is precisely what our national government is doing, even as you read this.

History has provided us with many instances that prove my theorem. Zimbabwe is a current and very pertinent example. Its inflation rate is in the hundreds of thousands. The nation is a tragic shambles of starving, ill and destitute people, who spend what little money they earn as soon as they receive it, because one minute later it will have lost 20 percent of its value.

Yet knowing what has happened in Zimbabwe, our own government seems hell bent on printing unbacked currency as fast as the presses can roll. They apparently feel compelled to do so, because there's no other source for the billions of dollars needed by a seemingly endless stream of politically motivated, give-away programs.

You can frame this, and put it up on the wall: "No matter what President Barack Obama and his minions say to the contrary, their unjustified, unwise and unsustainable government giveaways will significantly increase taxes on all of us, will raise the cost of most everything we buy and will result in rampant inflation."

Look at just this one current example, which many of you have noticed and questioned.

Gasoline prices recently jumped unexpectedly - without warning or prediction. Many asked why. Some thought they knew that the increases were just more of the unethical dealing that goes on between evil, rich, oil producers. Fact is, the 10-15 percent increase in gasoline prices resulted primarily from a similar and concurrent decrease in the value of our dollar. We pay foreign suppliers with dollars for oil If the dollar drops in value, then we have to give more of them for the same amount of oil. Our dollar's value is falling because we are printing them rapidly, in great quantities, and without backing (real value, such as tons of steel or bushels of wheat). In fact, our dollar's value has dropped about 15 percent in the past three months.

That economic principle applies to everything we buy from other nations. Think, if you will, of how many of the things you see in grocery, hardware or department stores that are foreign made. All of those will cost significantly more as our dollar is increasingly devalued by careless printing and profligate spending.

While the prescription to prevent economic chaos is relatively simple; the application of corrective measures will be far more complicated and difficult. We need to demand that government cease, immediately, spending even a dollar more than it is taking in. No more worthless money is to be printed. And action to pay off international and national debt must be initiated and vigorously pursued.

The cost of government must be slashed to the bone: salaries and benefits for government employees (especially the elected variety) must be significantly reduced. Pork barrel spending by selfish politicians must end.

Welfare programs will have to be drastically cut. All of us will have to not only tighten our belts, but most likely cut off the excess length, because we'll be in for a long period of recession before the cure begins to take effect.

Yes, that's a gloomy picture, but the alternative (which is the path the Obama administration is following) is even less acceptable. Obamanomics may make us feel better for a few turbulent months, but eventually, that house of cards will collapse, resulting in "Zimbabwe in America," which will not only be dreadful here, but will almost certainly cause worldwide economic chaos.

The choice is ours to make today, but waiting will yank that opportunity away. Let your elected representatives know that you want a balanced budget now, without any new taxes (however well disguised); an immediate end to any and all government give-away programs (e.g., cash for clunkers and other "stimulus" nonsense, and/or corporate bailouts); an end to unemployment payments when jobs are reasonably available (including those held by illegal immigrants); and, especially, no change to national health care plans or practices until we are shown that such changes will not result in decreases to present levels of medical care and will not cost any additional money.