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FEW GOOD MEN "When
good men do nothing, evil triumphs." The purpose of this article is to present you with some choices regarding national decisions that need to be made. The choice I want to invite you to make is to take an active role in making the Reagan Renaissance a reality. If you believe that the Reagan Renaissance precepts or proposals require some revision, please put forth your own concepts or the ideas of others. As suggested in the subtitle, most people will probably follow the hand-washing precedent set by Pontius Pilot and not do anything. Doing nothing is a choice; and if the great 18th century philosopher Edmund Burke is correct, we know the result. I would also like to remind each of you that history has not been kind to the descendants when great civilizations or cultures have collapsed. Ronald Reagan burst on the American political scene in 1964 with a speech slated for immortality, "We have come to a time for choosing; we will preserve for our children this the last best hope for man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.....history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening." "It is remarkable to see how relatively numerous in declining empires are the people capable of making the right diagnosis and preaching some sensible cure. It is no less remarkable, however, that wise utterances remain generally sterile, because, as Gonazles de Cellorigo forcefully put it while watching impotently the decline of Spain, "those who can, will not; and those who will, cannot." Carlo M. Cipolla: "The Decline of Empires" The Marine Corps calls attention to the difference that a few good men can make to the course of history; Burke recognized the extraordinary cost of indifference. Like the Marine Corps, the Reagan Renaissance is looking for "A Few Good Men" willing to come to the aid of their country. The good people who write and publish at Financial Sense Online (FSO), Elliot Wave International (EWI), and the Daily Reckoning (DR) have recognized most of the risks in the present economy and have not only been warning their respective readers about the coming price to be paid for our nation's past profligacy, but also have been duly advising their readers on how to cope during the decline and then hopefully prosper from whatever recovery that may eventually follow. It is my contention that our constellations of impending crises take their origins from decades of past political misjudgments rather than from financial follies or economic errors. Given that this is true, real reform requires political change instead of financial planning or economic engineering. While notably engaged in the economic and financial debates, for the most part the authorities at FSO, EWI and DR have remained aloof or absent from the political dialogue. The current credit and monetary expansions, both in absolute and relative terms, are by far the largest in history. Economic reversals or corrections tend to be proportional to the magnitude of past errors. Therefore it would seem to be rational and desirable that comprehensive financial planning or advice should address the political mistakes that allowed our economic problems to occur and reasonably should include recommendations designed to prevent the same political mistakes from recurring. The Reagan Renaissance series provides evidence that should convince any critic that the tax collections used to fund the growth of socialism have undermined the ability of ordinary Americans to save. Socialism fosters over consumption. It is the combination of under savings, the seventy years of foregone compounding of those lost savings, and the over consumption prompted by socialism that has gutted the US subsistence pool thereby significantly lowering real total US net worth and setting the stage for falling incomes for decades to come. Socialism is the villain that has transformed the United States from the world's largest creditor into the world's largest debtor in little more than two decades. It is socialism that has transformed the United States into a debtor actively engaging in default through the devaluation of its currency. It is socialism that has transformed the United States into a debtor whose risk of non-payment default is being openly discussed. From once having been considered the world's only risk free investment, thanks to socialism, the bonds of the United States are now being considered for down-grade by rating agencies. Governments seldom survive sovereign debt default and no government has ever survived hyperinflation with the complete destruction of the value of its currency. The present global credit and fiat currency expansions have their epicenters in the United States. Whenever a debtor economy lacks either the will or the productive capacity to service its debt plus the interest, partial default becomes inevitable. Faced with this problem, every government in history has invariably resorted to currency debasement and expanded deficits. Governments rarely exercise the self control needed to stop the digging. Credit expansion and currency inflation require public confidence. Credit expansion and currency inflation cannot be continued indefinitely without endangering the public's confidence. There is a point where credit expansion alone cannot service non-productive debt and its associated interest. When this threshold is crossed, the debtor and the economy have reached the point where the only choice is inflate or die. When confidence declines, there are no more options or choices and a financial crisis becomes inevitable. How close is the United States? Are there signs that the global financial community is losing confidence? Cycles of credit and inflationary booms and busts imply that we are destined (doomed) to never learn from the lessons of the past. Governments are the architects and the engineers of these catastrophes. Whenever good men refuse to learn and lead, the mistakes of the past are sure to be repeated. The Reagan Renaissance outlines the past mistakes that have lead to our present problems. More importantly the Reagan Renaissance provides a way to minimize the damage from the debacle in progress as well as defining the means to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the same way as the future unfolds. Thanks to the magic of the internet and the power of talk radio, taking significant action has never been easier. Paraphrasing Winston Churchill, "Never have so few had to do so little in order to accomplish so much." Click here to share this page with someone in your address book and then please click here to send a message to Rush. I would particularly like to invite the people who write and publish at FSO, EWI and DR to use their positions of trust and credibility to improve, endorse and to promote the Reagan Renaissance. Thank you. "When good men do nothing, evil triumphs." Reagan
Renaissance Summary Ludwig Von Mises presents the economic case against socialism; Ronald Reagan presents the eloquent moral arguments.
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