OPINION:
History is replete with examples of countries that run up huge debts (via wars and welfare-state policies) and then print vast amounts of money in a misguided attempt to cover that debt. That process — monetization — inevitably results in horrendous inflation and/or national insolvency.
Weimar Germany’s attempt to pay unrealistic World War I reparations caused the Mark to become useless. A loaf of bread was priced at millions and people suffered and starved. South American and African countries have experienced somewhat similar difficulties.
We Americans don’t seem to get the message: There are laws of economics that cannot be violated without dire onsequences. At some point in time the national debt will reach critical mass and a ’pound of flesh’ will be required. Wealth — including U.S. wealth — is not limitless.
Ben Franklin’s axiom, “A penny saved is a penny earned,” is at total odds with our nation’s trillion-dollar deficits. We fund proverbial bridges to nowhere, science- fiction transportation and unprofitable subway systems.
There are only two possibilities at play: Either we have elected a group of very stupid people to the halls of Congress, or leftist interests want America to experience a financial crisis of such magnitude that Marixist authority may seize control absent objection of the masses.
FRANK GARDINER
Provo, Utah
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