Are you prepared for continued high inflation?

[repeal17thamendment]

Several years ago, a prominent L.D.S. patriot named Joel Skousen made the astute observation that the government was systematically lying and that inflation was actually into double digits. All one has to do is watch how government alters the CPI (consumer price index) and the PPI (producer price index) and how they make their biased calculations. Joel continued to document this as the REAL inflation rate stayed more than double of what government was claiming. Fast forward to now where for the last few months, every financial news source has been forced to admit that inflation is just raging. The government is still lying about the true inflation rate, but the cat is finally out of the bag. It simply became impossible to hide what all americans were seeing: that nearly everything at the grocery store had already gone up (at least once), that gasoline and natural gas prices had dramatically risen and set new baselines, and that gold just would not stop skyrocketing.

So what's causing the runaway inflation? Two billion per week in "eye rack" is the chief cause, and the worst part is most americans are totally ignorant of the fact that dollars spent on iraq are ALL OFF BUDGET. This means that the real budget deficit is just off the charts. Then you have the fact that the satanic forces who control our fiat "money" system have continued to pump insane amounts of cash into several parts of the economy to attempt to keep it from collapsing and waking americans up to the reality of just how bad these people really are.

What can you do? Well, it's almost too late to purchase gold to take advantage of the main runup. You should have bought gold when it was only $290 per ounce, but now that it's almost NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS an ounce , gold will only protect you against future runaway inflation (which is happening as we speak).

In short, bush and his handlers in combination with the secret combination that controls the banking system have utterly killed the dollar. I'm amazed that there is not massive protests outside the white house and capitol now that the Canadian "looney" is worth MORE than your dollar.

It's also almost too late to sell property if you need to. I remember hearing Joel Skousen 2 and 3 years ago, warning his subscribers that if they need to sell property, that they'd better hurry up and do it. Now foreclosures have been on the news for months.

I suggest getting some usable silver, such as morgans or "peace" silver dollars. If you have cash to invest, find a way to get into gold or your savings will be eaten alive by the INDIRECT TAX known as inflation.

[NeuroTypical]

Color me unimpressed. I'm unimpressed with the survivalist Joel Skousen, and his outdated fallout shelter advocacy. I'm unimpressed with the faulty, hole-ridden attempts to paint impending financial doom. I'm unimpressed with your grasp on what the billions spent on Iraq supposedly mean to our economic system. I'm unimpressed with this conspiracy-theory mentality of how "they" are all out to get "you", but "they" can't hide any more, because you're here to tell us about it. I've been personally hearing this tune for two decades from folks of your stripe. And always, the illuminati, the one world order, the global administrative districting, the secret combinations, the communists never manage to show up, even though you eventually type in ALL CAPS to emphasize your point, and insult Canadian currency.

I do not find your rhetoric persuasive. I do not buy your doomsday scnarios. I will not be buying gold at record high prices. I will continue to contentedly slave away as a tool of The Man , pleased with the ability to invest in my 401K with company match, like I've done for the last 10 years, against the passionate ravings of the tinfoil hat brigade.

Please feel free to reply with insults like "blinder-wearing", "ostritch", or whatever strikes your fancy.

I'm not impressed.

LM

[a-train]

'Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.' - Prov. 16:18

-a-train

[repeal17thamendment]

LM you clearly have the spirit of contention (as evidenced by all the non specific statements masquerading as responses, and the veiled and not so veiled insults directed at me) so you've essentially made it impossible to have a logical and reasoned discussion with you. I do have a question though, are you saying the Book of Mormon is wrong about the existence of a singular secret combination (Ether chapter 8)? It sure appears that is what you are saying.

It's kind of amazing how angry some people get when you point out the actions or the mere EXISTENCE of the secret combination. They focus on the MESSENGER instead of the subject (like when you get upset that I used CAPS ). They act as if you're trying to force them to believe, and that they are somehow super tough for being able to resist. They also tend to use emotion instead of logical reasoning.

Guess what LM, you are free to believe whatever you want to believe. The rude way you approached me and what I said just makes you look bad (there's one in every forum who trolls for sincere people to attack-thus I'm not surprised LM was the first post).

[MorningStar]

Inflation concerns me, but I don't really know if there is a conspiracy involved. A friend of mine thinks prices are going to go up 500% this year. He also thinks that sunscreen causes skin cancer and that it's an FDA conspiracy. I disagree.

[MorningStar]

It is true though that some people will step on anyone to make money for themselves.

[Canuck Mormon]

LM you clearly have the spirit of contention (as evidenced by all the non specific statements masquerading as responses, and the veiled and not so veiled insults directed at me) so you've essentially made it impossible to have a logical and reasoned discussion with you. I do have a question though, are you saying the Book of Mormon is wrong about the existence of a singular secret combination (Ether chapter 8)? It sure appears that is what you are saying.

It's kind of amazing how angry some people get when you point out the actions or the mere EXISTENCE of the secret combination. They focus on the MESSENGER instead of the subject (like when you get upset that I used CAPS ). They act as if you're trying to force them to believe, and that they are somehow super tough for being able to resist. They also tend to use emotion instead of logical reasoning.

Guess what LM, you are free to believe whatever you want to believe. The rude way you approached me and what I said just makes you look bad (there's one in every forum who trolls for sincere people to attack-thus I'm not surprised LM was the first post).

What are you talking about? LM's post was stating that he disagreed with you assessment and you go and call him a troll because he doesn't believe what you do. Your dollar tanked because of the housing market crashing and other financial issues, not because of Bush and some secret conspiracies. Stop being so defensive about other people disagreeing with you. People are allowed to have opinions that do not match yours. You believe what you believe and I'll believe what I'll believe, OK?

[a-train]

Your dollar tanked because of the housing market crashing and other financial issues,

And why is there a slip in the housing market? A weak dollar caused the economy to slow so the FED lowered interest rates to record lows and increased the money supply. This caused a fantastic real estate bubble. Were houses becoming more expensive? NO! The dollar was losing value.

As signs of inflation became too great to ignore, the FED brought interest rates back up which popped the real estate bubble. Now there are many Americans who are upside down on their house and/or who can't make the payments. Because American households have so much debt they can't stimulate the economy much because they are broke.

So now what is the FED going to do to stimulate the economy? Lower interest rates again. The White House is also going to offer another tax based stimulus package. Why? Because thats the only place left to free money up. Printing more money will only make the issue more acute.

We would have none of this trouble if our money system wasn't based on fiat currency and debt. We are going into a recession, but the FED will pull us out ASAP with an increased money supply. This will only squeeze the middle class more. It is a terrible cycle, but it will end. It cannot last forever. Sooner or later, they will blow it.

-a-train

[NeuroTypical]

LM you clearly have the spirit of contention (as evidenced by all the non specific statements masquerading as responses, and the veiled and not so veiled insults directed at me) so you've essentially made it impossible to have a logical and reasoned discussion with you.

Let me clarify my position a little. Nothing in my post was meant as a response or counter arguement, or even an alternative viewpoint. I'm merely stating that I don't find your argument or worldview persuasive, I reject many of your sources, and I reject your suggestions.

I do have a question though, are you saying the Book of Mormon is wrong about the existence of a singular secret combination (Ether chapter 8)?

Not sure what you mean by "singular". Are you claiming the BoM says all of the SC's mentioned are 'the same'? Surely, they've been with us from time to time since Cain. The Jaredites had them, they were active 50-ish years before Christ's birth, and 80 years later right before Christ's arrival in the Americas. Nephi and Moroni both make prophecies that SC's will be around. 2 Nephi 9 discusses SC's as one of the things Satan tries to stir us up into doing.

I don't see anything about how they're all the same SC though. Is that what you're saying, or am I missing your question?

Regardless, I'm not denying the existence (former or current) of sc's. I am rejecting Joel Skousen's claim that I need to sell my property. I'm rejecting your advice that I need to buy silver coins and "the end is near". I do not believe that "bush and his handlers in combination with the secret combination that controls the banking system have utterly killed the dollar." It's obviously not true, because the dollar has not been "utterly killed".

It's kind of amazing how angry some people get when you point out the actions or the mere EXISTENCE of the secret combination.

I'm not angry, and I'm not in denial about the works of darkness. I'm just rejecting your opinion about how they're organized, and what I need to do about it.

In the two decades I've been rejecting your message of impending doom and conspiracies at the highest levels of government, here's the list of insults leveled at me:

Ostrich with head buried in the sand.

In denial.

I chose to wear blinders.

Blind idiot who can't see my own hand in front of my face in broad daylight.

Dupe of [whatever term is being used to describe the current conspirators].

I'll add your insults (and A-Train's) to the list:

I focus on the MESSENGER instead of the subject.

I consider myself "super tough" .

I use emotion instead of logical reasoning.

I'm rude.

I get angry when someone mentions the existence of secret combinations.

My posts make me look bad.

I "troll for sincere people".

I'm prideful, heading for destruction.

I have a haughty spirit, and I'm heading for a fall.

Again, color me unimpressed.

LM

[the_jason]

I'm with the Loudmouth. Why am I going to listen to you about anything? If the prophet tells me to go sell everything and buy silver then I'll listen. Until then, I'll stick to what he HAS told me in regards to food storage, emergency preparedness, etc. If you hate the US so much, do us a favor and leave.

[NeuroTypical]

We would have none of this trouble if our money system wasn't based on fiat currency and debt.

No country, no government, until America went off the gold standard - ever had house prices fluctuate, a slowing economy, homes that lose value, people who couldn't pay their debts or became broke? Am I hearing you right, or do you want to clarify a little?

We are going into a recession, but the FED will pull us out ASAP with an increased money supply. This will only squeeze the middle class more. It is a terrible cycle, but it will end. It cannot last forever. Sooner or later, they will blow it.

According to repeal17thamendment, "they" have already "utterly killed the dollar". Doesn't that mean that "it" has already been "blown"?

From where I'm standing, the economic cycle isn't about to be "blown" (such that there is no recovery at the end of the downturn), nor should it be.

Time to buy stock!

LM

[MorningStar]

I think the housing market went bad because people borrowed more than they could afford and paid more for houses than they were worth. When interest rates lowered, people here were paying $25,000 or more over the asking price. It was ridiculous, almost like they were in a panic, believing that they would never get a house if they didn't buy this very second. What's the point of a lower interest rate if you're going to ruin it by paying too much?

[a-train]

Skousen was far from alone in his estimation that the housing bubble would burst. It was the subject of global economic news before the harsh effects came into play. I'm not of any special affiliation to Skousen, but if he was telling people who were considering a move to sell before the housing market fell, it was good advice.

It should be noted that many economists are advocating a further fall in the value of the dollar as this will slow imports and lead to better exports, a correction they are looking to for long term stability and growth. This is, of course, a good thing for companies trying to export products made by US workers. But it is a bad thing for the US workers.

We can be thankful that these workers will have a job, but the value of their labor has decreased. Of course, a continued growth of exports could lead to a raise for those workers, but this is only a cycle akin to treading water. The overall inflation is still eating away at their individual buying power. A decreasing number of Americans are able to get ahead in this game as more fall victim to false market impressions and dangerous entrances to debt based thereon.

We can look to our Mexican friends for serious solutions to this issue. By combining their buying power and avoiding debt, they are slowly but surely buying California. We should take a lesson.

Put many family members in a house and pay several times the monthly payment toward the principle of the loan. With the mortgage paid off in 36 months or less, the family will continue to contribute to their collective fund until a second house is afforded. They will continue down this path until all family members own their homes in just a decade and they will pay a tiny fraction of interest in the process and take on little or no risk of going upside down or foreclosure.

Such a practice is never advertised. It just isn't as fun as a house for everyone right away.

The prophets have warned us for generations to avoid debt. Debt is where all the inflation comes from. Prices aren't increasing because people have more money. They are rising because people have more debt both individually and as a nation.

For those who are not in debt, this still presents a problem. We do need to be mindful of inflation and have a strategy to protect ourselves from its effects. This is not the advice of 'foil-hat-heads' (what does that mean, by the way?). This is the advice of every porfolio manager on the planet.

-a-train

[WANDERER]

Tin foil hats: according to wikipedia has become a synonymous term for those that are paranoid.

[a-train]

No country, no government, until America went off the gold standard - ever had house prices fluctuate, a slowing economy, homes that lose value, people who couldn't pay their debts or became broke? Am I hearing you right, or do you want to clarify a little?

The Gold Standard offered no protection for those who made poor decisions with debt or credit, but neither does our current system. I can lose my house just as easy now as I could have in 1808. The object of the Gold Standard was to give the dollar durability, not keep people out of debt or financial crisis. It was an honest system which allowed Americans to choose their own financial course and reap the benefits.

According to repeal17thamendment, "they" have already "utterly killed the dollar". Doesn't that mean that "it" has already been "blown"?

I can't speak for him, but it is a fact that the dollar has lost 92% of its value since 1913, an inflation that did NOT happen in the 137 years leading up to the creation of the FED. Further, inflation has had its strongest effects in the last 30 years since the conversion to total fiat currency in this country.

A US penny is now worth less than its cost of production. Efforts to use cheaper materials are employed. Talk of its elimination has circulated. We will ultimately need to readjust the currency as it inflates, as other nations have done. The blow-out that is possible is a sudden international panic, of which today's market activity is only a tiny example. Foreign investors showed today that they have little confidence in the FED in retaining value to the dollar, as stocks fell world-wide in spite of the FED rate cut announcement.

I think Washington and Wall Street are both highly overestimating the purchasing power of the individual American. I can gauge it in my area because I own a retail business. My finger is directly on the pulse. I have contact with retailers and distributors nationwide who are all seeing similar activity.

If this FED rate cut is overplayed, it could lead to dramatic inflation and put is in a tail-spin.

From where I'm standing, the economic cycle isn't about to be "blown" (such that there is no recovery at the end of the downturn), nor should it be.

Nothing short of the end of the world will keep us from a recovery. The Great Depression had a recovery. A depression worse than it will have a recovery. The issue is how deep and how long the downturn will be and whether individuals are able to remain housed, clothed, and fed throughout its length. The greater debt an individual has, the more precarious his situation. Our counsel is to avoid debt and now is as good a time as any to listen and obey.

-a-train

[NeuroTypical]

The prophets have warned us for generations to avoid debt.

Quite true - and President Hinckley has gone out of his way to hammer the point home. Here's what he had to say in 1998 - about a year before the telecom bubble burst (and I was unemployed for 6 months as a result). I'm glad I heeded his warning then, and his conuncil is just as relevant today.

Given in the Priesthood session of General Conference, Oct 1998:

Now, brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.

So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings.

We have witnessed in recent weeks wide and fearsome swings in the markets of the world. The economy is a fragile thing. A stumble in the economy in Jakarta or Moscow can immediately affect the entire world. It can eventually reach down to each of us as individuals. There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed.

I hope with all my heart that we shall never slip into a depression. I am a child of the Great Depression of the thirties. I finished the university in 1932, when unemployment in this area exceeded 33 percent.

My father was then president of the largest stake in the Church in this valley. It was before our present welfare program was established. He walked the floor worrying about his people. He and his associates established a great wood-chopping project designed to keep the home furnaces and stoves going and the people warm in the winter. They had no money with which to buy coal. Men who had been affluent were among those who chopped wood.

I repeat, I hope we will never again see such a depression. But I am troubled by the huge consumer installment debt which hangs over the people of the nation, including our own people. In March 1997 that debt totaled $1.2 trillion, which represented a 7 percent increase over the previous year.

In December of 1997, 55 to 60 million households in the United States carried credit card balances. These balances averaged more than $7,000 and cost $1,000 per year in interest and fees. Consumer debt as a percentage of disposable income rose from 16.3 percent in 1993 to 19.3 percent in 1996.

Everyone knows that every dollar borrowed carries with it the penalty of paying interest. When money cannot be repaid, then bankruptcy follows. There were 1,350,118 bankruptcies in the United States last year. This represented a 50 percent increase from 1992. In the second quarter of this year, nearly 362,000 persons filed for bankruptcy, a record number for a three-month period.

We are beguiled by seductive advertising. Television carries the enticing invitation to borrow up to 125 percent of the value of one’s home. But no mention is made of interest.

President J. Reuben Clark Jr., in the April 1938 general conference, said from this pulpit: “Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1938, 103).

I recognize that it may be necessary to borrow to get a home, of course. But let us buy a home that we can afford and thus ease the payments which will constantly hang over our heads without mercy or respite for as long as 30 years.

No one knows when emergencies will strike. I am somewhat familiar with the case of a man who was highly successful in his profession. He lived in comfort. He built a large home. Then one day he was suddenly involved in a serious accident. Instantly, without warning, he almost lost his life. He was left a cripple. Destroyed was his earning power. He faced huge medical bills. He had other payments to make. He was helpless before his creditors. One moment he was rich, the next he was broke.

Since the beginnings of the Church, the Lord has spoken on this matter of debt. To Martin Harris through revelation He said: “Pay the debt thou hast contracted with the printer. Release thyself from bondage” (D&C 19:35).

President Heber J. Grant spoke repeatedly on this matter from this pulpit. He said: “If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family, it is to live within our means. And if there is any one thing that is grinding and discouraging and disheartening, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet” (Gospel Standards, comp. G. Homer Durham [1941], 111).

We are carrying a message of self-reliance throughout the Church. Self-reliance cannot obtain when there is serious debt hanging over a household. One has neither independence nor freedom from bondage when he is obligated to others.

In managing the affairs of the Church, we have tried to set an example. We have, as a matter of policy, stringently followed the practice of setting aside each year a percentage of the income of the Church against a possible day of need.

I am grateful to be able to say that the Church in all its operations, in all its undertakings, in all of its departments, is able to function without borrowed money. If we cannot get along, we will curtail our programs. We will shrink expenditures to fit the income. We will not borrow.

One of the happiest days in the life of President Joseph F. Smith was the day the Church paid off its long-standing indebtedness.

What a wonderful feeling it is to be free of debt, to have a little money against a day of emergency put away where it can be retrieved when necessary.

President Faust would not tell you this himself. Perhaps I can tell it, and he can take it out on me afterward. He had a mortgage on his home drawing 4 percent interest. Many people would have told him he was foolish to pay off that mortgage when it carried so low a rate of interest. But the first opportunity he had to acquire some means, he and his wife determined they would pay off their mortgage. He has been free of debt since that day. That’s why he wears a smile on his face, and that’s why he whistles while he works.

I urge you, brethren, to look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage.

This is a part of the temporal gospel in which we believe. May the Lord bless you, my beloved brethren, to set your houses in order. If you have paid your debts, if you have a reserve, even though it be small, then should storms howl about your head, you will have shelter for your wives and children and peace in your hearts. That’s all I have to say about it, but I wish to say it with all the emphasis of which I am capable.

I leave with you my testimony of the divinity of this work and my love for each of you, in the name of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

[a-train]

And this is a perfect example of the warnings we are given and the sentiment our inflation issues should bring to our minds. Inflation is the result of a nation living beyond its means. The artificially inflated prices harm the poor and when they crash, they harm those in debt both poor and rich.

With an honest money system, based on real value, we have our times of famine and our times of plenty. With our fiat system, we maintain our plentiful lifestyle in times of famine by artificial stimulation of the economy through an increase of the money supply. History has shown the disasterous end of those periods where nations endeavored to do so for too long.

Their pride was too great to allow for a conservative and humble approach. The fall that results is never pretty.

-a-train

[NeuroTypical]

Their pride was too great to allow for a conservative and humble approach. The fall that results is never pretty.

Perhaps the root of disagreement between me and thee: I believe pride (or any other sin you wish to attribute to the problem) will find a way to cause problems no matter what we base our economy on.

In other words, let's assume I agree with you completely about everything you're saying. Should you get your wish and we return to the gold standard, next decade's version of Pres. Bush and his illuminati/CFR/masonic/alien/communist/secret combination puppetmasters will still plot to control the gold, and succeed or not succeed as they do today. The tools in their toolbox will change, but the nature of power, and the satanic tactics used to get and keep it, will still be there working away.

Right?

LM

[a-train]

Certainly a return to real money won't suddenly cure the planet of evil. That, as already stated, is not the point. But it will prevent the slavery of inflation tax and the availibility of government to rely on inflation spending (debt).

Now you took the Psalm I quoted as an insult. I apologize. But please understand, that was not meant to be an insult, especially not to you personally. It is a statement of our people and our country who hold the sentiment expressed in your post. It is as if the country can't be annoyed by those who remind them that this lifestyle we are living is one of debt rather than success. An animosity exists among us that creates bitterness toward those that offer these reminders. We must remember the root of contention and be mindful.

Inflation is very real, we all know that. We all need to protect ourselves against it. Perhaps you think repealthe17thamendment was dramatic, perhaps you have a history with him that has you unhappy with him, but you have to admit you started the mud-slinging in this thread and even invited insults. For someone that is not convinced that corporate globalists are doing you harm, understand that I am not intent on it either.

You further have to admit that nobody is talking about the illuminati, or freemasons, or aliens, or foil-hats, or whatever else. I think we both know you are trying to push buttons with those types of interjections. I personally don't mind.

If you don't believe that corporate elites have more pull over a corrupt Washington than the voters, that is fine. But the evidence that our current policies both foreign and domestic have brought us to tremendous national spending and debt is undeniable. Our current national debt over GDP is at WWII levels and climbing fast. This is not a chicken little bed time story or a college drop-out stoner speech.

This country thinks it can have times of plenty in times of famine. We are so certain that we will have ultimate success, that we are willing to raise the debt beyond comprehension. Public confidence is slipping bad as most of the country is at its credit limit (or in as much debt as it cares to enter).

With an honest money system, only those who give in to temptation are placed in the shackles of debt. In our current system, we are debtors from birth. I think we can all agree that the freeing of the slaves was a good thing. It was a victory for the forces of good. Evil wasn't abolished once and for all with the freedom of black Americans, but none of us would advocate slavery simply because abolition isn't the end of all evil.

Just the same, a return to an honest system would be a tremendous victory for the forces of good and a wonderful celebration of economic freedom and liberty. I therefore strongly support it and endeavor to build support for freedom.

-a-train

[Mahonri]

So why don't we hear any of this from Apostles and Prophets?

[cjcampbell]

Okay, the best defense against inflation is your food storage. If you have a year's supply, you are always living on last year's prices. You bought in bulk or on sales, so you paid less for it in the first place.

You cannot eat silver or gold. Besides, silver and gold are just as subject to inflation as paper money.

Inflation is all about money supply. If too many dollars are chasing too few goods and services, you will get inflation.

Inflation is not all bad. If you have debt, you are paying back money you borrowed with money that is now worth less. Inflation makes debt easier to repay and makes depositors think they are earning a higher rate of interest. That is why banks encourage mild inflation, but discourage high inflation. It is true that inflation can be a form of taxation when governments create it by printing money, but inflation is not always caused this way.

Congress has the responsibility under the Constitution to regulate the value of money. It does this through the Federal Reserve and by issuing bonds (which take money out of circulation) and by repaying those bonds (which puts money back into circulation). It can also attempt to control the value of various commodities and services by adjusting how much of those commodities and services it buys. For example, the national petroleum reserve is nothing more or less than an attempt to control the supply of petroleum and, therefore, its price. Governments in the past have tried to control prices through direct regulation, but this is almost always unsuccessful, creating shortages and black markets.

Sometimes there are inflationary pressures that a government cannot control. For example, if enough dollars are exported overseas, foreign powers can influence the value of the dollar by either hoarding it or releasing it. The trick is doing this without hurting your own trade.

The dollar has manifestly been overvalued for decades. This is why jobs and everything else are cheaper outside the US. Much of our current inflation is the result of a deliberate attempt by our own financial system to reduce the value of the dollar and our trade deficit. This will bring jobs back home and make our exports more valuable. It will also slow illegal immigration.

The simplistic views of Joel Skousen and others hail to a mercantilist philosophy that predates even Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations. Kings once used gold as the only measure of wealth. It was a poor measure, subject to huge fluctuations as caches of gold were discovered or lost. Gold and silver standards fail for the obvious reason that we would still have an economy if gold and silver did not exist at all. We would still have markets, trade, employers, employees, small businesses and giant multi-national corporations, even if gold and silver did not exist.

There is no such thing as 'real money.' Money is always an artificial measuring stick, whether it is represented by gold, silver, seashells, or blips in a computer. Barter systems are simply another form of money.

[cjcampbell]

So why don't we hear any of this from Apostles and Prophets?

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was the proximate cause of the Great Depression. It destroyed the economy of the entire world, caused the rise of Naziism and Fascism, forced Japan to carve out its own economic prosperity sphere, and thus precipitated a series of wars, including World War II, that killed millions of people, paved the way for oppressive communism to take over much of the world and prevented missionary work in many nations for decades. Senator Reed Smoot, who co-sponsored the bill, was an apostle at the time, yet he made one of the worst economic and foreign policy decisions in the entire history of the world. Even the rise of international terrorism has its roots in the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930.

The people of Utah were not amused and Senator Smoot was swept out of office in 1932 by Elbert Thomas, another member of the Church, who correctly predicted that Smoot's bill would cause extreme hardship on the Japanese.

If any single event can be said to have encouraged the leaders of the Church to stay out of politics and the economy, it would have to be the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. True, Ezra Taft Benson served in Eisenhower's cabinet and was a vocal anti-communist, but modern-day leaders have learned to be much more circumspect in their public pronouncements.

We are now a world-wide church with less than half of its members in the United States. We have members in all political parties all over the world. It is not a matter of offending these members; it is a matter of concentrating on the work of our missionaries and changing people's lives through reforming personal behavior, not the behavior of their governments. If the Church started taking sides on some of these issues it would be in real danger of being seen as a representative of America, not of God. We are not about to make that mistake again.

[a-train]

It should be noted that Smoot-Hawley was not actually passed until after the stock market crash of 1929 which most historians consider the beginning of the Great Depression. Still, it didn't help Smoot, whose hearings for entrance to office were a pain in the side of the LDS people already.

The wiki article on Smoot-Hawley says this: 'Smoot-Hawley's impact on the entire U.S. economy was dwarfed in comparison to the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve System.'

Ezra Taft Benson did endorse and advocate this book, which warns of the dangers of inflation and the real troubles with the Federal Reserve System.

-a-train

[cjcampbell]

It should be noted that Smoot-Hawley was not actually passed until after the stock market crash of 1929 which most historians consider the beginning of the Great Depression. Still, it didn't help Smoot, whose hearings for entrance to office were a pain in the side of the LDS people already.

The wiki article on Smoot-Hawley says this: 'Smoot-Hawley's impact on the entire U.S. economy was dwarfed in comparison to the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve System.'

Ezra Taft Benson did endorse and advocate this book, which warns of the dangers of inflation and the real troubles with the Federal Reserve System.

-a-train

The stock market had largely recovered from the crash of 1929 by April of 1930, reaching the levels of early 1929, although still below its peak of September 1929. The crash certainly was not the cause of the Great Depression. An important lesson for investors: if the market falls, don't sell! If you can be patient and have a diversified portfolio, you will get your money back and then some.

I am well aware of Elder Bensen's book recommendations. Most general authorities probably would not agree with him. None Dare Call It Conspiracy is a run-of-the-mill sky-is-falling conspiracy book. It is worth noting that not one of the dire events predicted in this book ever came to pass. Gary Allen is a journalist, not an economist. There is nothing to indicate that he had the faintest idea of what he was talking about.

It is a great book if you are a John Bircher or some other nut out on the political fringe, but hardly a serious treatise on economics. In any event, it would be a severe mistake to confuse any general authority's political opinions with Church doctrine. It is worth noting that communism has all but disappeared, the former communist countries are more capitalist than their capitalist foes, and the few families that are supposed to control the economy of the world have been replaced by technology gurus, Japanese investors, and oil sheikhs. The Trilateral Commission (a very public study group, by the way, not a secret conspiracy) never did take over the world, and I haven't seen any black helicopters.

Yes, I will agree with Milton Friedman that monetary contraction caused by the Federal Reserve was also the major cause of the Great Depression, but who was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that was supposed to be overseeing the Fed? It was Reed Smoot! The one thing that can be said for Reed Smoot was that up until that time he served his country and his Church very well. It is not as if he deliberately planned to start the Great Depression, you know. The other thing that can be said is that if Ezra Taft Benson had been in his position that things might have been much worse.

Certainly Senator Smoot did not do it all by himself. Some countries had started experiencing severe contraction as early as 1928. Crackpot economic theories (like those of Gary Allen) had taken hold in much of the world and there was enormous political pressure for greater protectionism and measures to fight inflation. Not unlike today -- except that the crackpots are still in the minority. Reed Smoot also needed a majority vote of both houses of Congress and the signature of President Hoover. There is plenty of blame to go around.

What I do not understand is how a populist, ultra-right wing anti-trade faction has managed to take over so much of the Republican Party. The Republicans were specifically founded to fight slavery and promote free trade. Its battle cry was "Free trade and free men!" So now we have bunch of people calling themselves conservative Republicans arguing for core liberal Democratic values of protectionism and less freedom. Go figure.

[amightyfortress]

Skousen was far from alone in his estimation that the housing bubble would burst. It was the subject of global economic news before the harsh effects came into play. I'm not of any special affiliation to Skousen, but if he was telling people who were considering a move to sell before the housing market fell, it was good advice.

It should be noted that many economists are advocating a further fall in the value of the dollar as this will slow imports and lead to better exports, a correction they are looking to for long term stability and growth. This is, of course, a good thing for companies trying to export products made by US workers. But it is a bad thing for the US workers.

We can be thankful that these workers will have a job, but the value of their labor has decreased. Of course, a continued growth of exports could lead to a raise for those workers, but this is only a cycle akin to treading water. The overall inflation is still eating away at their individual buying power. A decreasing number of Americans are able to get ahead in this game as more fall victim to false market impressions and dangerous entrances to debt based thereon.

We can look to our Mexican friends for serious solutions to this issue. By combining their buying power and avoiding debt, they are slowly but surely buying California. We should take a lesson.

Put many family members in a house and pay several times the monthly payment toward the principle of the loan. With the mortgage paid off in 36 months or less, the family will continue to contribute to their collective fund until a second house is afforded. They will continue down this path until all family members own their homes in just a decade and they will pay a tiny fraction of interest in the process and take on little or no risk of going upside down or foreclosure.

Such a practice is never advertised. It just isn't as fun as a house for everyone right away.

The prophets have warned us for generations to avoid debt. Debt is where all the inflation comes from. Prices aren't increasing because people have more money. They are rising because people have more debt both individually and as a nation.

For those who are not in debt, this still presents a problem. We do need to be mindful of inflation and have a strategy to protect ourselves from its effects. This is not the advice of 'foil-hat-heads' (what does that mean, by the way?). This is the advice of every porfolio manager on the planet.

-a-train

Families could also consider purchasing a duplex or 3 or 4-family apartment building just for themselves (no outside tenants would live there) and use the same principle to pay it off rapidly. That way, each family would have a bit more privacy. If there's a good lock on the main entrance doors, there's no reason the families couldn't leave the interior doors unlocked which would enable the children to gather more easily. Families could even set up a schedule where each mother gets 2 hours of free time to herself during the day when the kids are over in another family members living area.