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The bottom line is that managing the currency (printing dollars) is the government's
responsibility. The government has power over the currency and we as participants
in the US economy have little choice since we are forced to use this currency for
most of our daily transactions. But it stands to reason that the more you produce
of something, the less each unit is worth. "Inflating" the currency doesn't mean
that the cost of goods and services go up; it's that the value of each dollar keeps
shrinking because you produce too many dollars. All things being equal, If I bought
something last year for $1 and this year it costs me $2, it isn't because that item
doubled in value; it's because the value of my money went down.
The value of the US dollar since the creation of the Federal Reserve system (effectively
America's central bank; a government entity) in 1913 has fallen by nearly 99%. Inflation
is basically a hidden tax since you end up paying more without getting more. Who
is causing this massive inflation? Who is debauching the value of our currency? Government.
Unemployment
Invariably when you hear about a sub-par economy, the conversation turns to jobs.
When you see the protestors and commentators on TV you will probably hear the clarion
call for "more jobs!" I even remember hearing one clueless "economist" on TV say
"we need less corporate profit and more jobs" which is akin to saying "we need less
oxygen and more breathing". The ultimate engine of job creation is profit (entrepreneurs
& private corporations) while the leading cause of job destruction is government.
Government increases the costs and risks of employment. You can be sure that if a
job is offered to you with a salary of $50,000, the cost of hiring & keeping you
employed is at least 40% higher when you factor in payroll taxes (federal, state
& local) along with government mandated costs (licenses, permits, paperwork, etc.)
and risks (such as employee lawsuits). As the cost of hiring legal citizens increases,
employers are forced to find alternatives that are affordable.
The end result is cost-cutting measures such as "downsizing" and ‘outsourcing". Remember
that these things are not problems; they are symptoms. Places like India and Mexico
benefit from these cost-cutting measures. Companies get the blame but the bulk of
the responsibility rests squarely with the government.
‘The two-wage earner family"
One of the ongoing laments in recent decades is how America went from being a place
where a family can be supported by a single wage-earner to where now it takes two
wage-earners to cover the expenses of running the household. Why is that? Two primary
reasons cause the necessity of the "two-wage earner family"-- inflation and taxes.
Who causes inflation and taxes? Government.
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