Does 2011 = 1971?

It’s not Jimmuh Carter’s 70’s that we could most usefully look at, but 1971, when tricky Dick Nixon closed the gold window. And, THAT action itself was probably inevitable, due to LBJ’s guns and butter faux pas, trying to have a big government domestically while also paying for the big war in Vietnam.

Some people seem to think the Fed is controlled by Obama, and that it will print money long enough to avoid any economic trouble in the USA before our model of Hussein gets reelected.

Isn’t the Fed supposed to be independent? Doesn’t it have the dual Humphrey-Hawkins mandate to keep inflation under control AND promote growth---admittedly, a stark dilemma?

While I’m a gold bug, somehow I just can’t get into the sky-is-falling posture about the future of the American economy, and even foreign affairs. Yes, we certainly face challenges, but, hey---THAT’S HUMAN LIFE!

I try to always keep in mind that a crisis is most vitally an opportunity. And, THAT’S what should never be wasted. Also, as Churchill once put it---America always does the right thing, after exhausting the other options (or something to that effect.).

2011 = 1971?

It could be! Just as back in the early 70’s, right now in the early 10’s we are climaxing in monetary AND physical revolutions, across the world, due to many years of feckless choices by putative leaders.

So, like a pressure cooker that’s been heated beyond its tolerances, a plurality of people have been “boiled” into a mad state, and they AREN’T TAKING IT ANY MORE!

In 1971, going off the gold standard (de facto) was a BIG DEAL. It introduced massive uncertainty into the world of finance and economics, and guess what?

Humans adjusted. Yes, we got stagflation, and less employment and GDP output than optimally possible, but the developed world ADJUSTED. America didn’t cease to exist and nobody starved, and the whole liberal-caused slump even brought us Ronald Reagan.

Remember---America IS the big dog!

Not only is it a NEGATIVE warning that no one could bail us out, but nobody ---no country---is large enough or powerful enough to STOP us from somehow dealing with the upcoming “crises”. That’s POSITIVE!

Think of countries like Canada and Venezuela and Libya and even China as little or large TAILS. It may be funny in a fantasy-land Hollywood way to worry about the tail wagging the dog, but in the real world, the big dog America still has more than enough power and prestige to handle the furious tails out there.

Even with the pretender president Obama calling the shots.

I can’t resist recalling one more historical fact.

The terrible losses of human life and human built structures and businesses in Japan are presently in the news, big time. This is both “bad” and “good”. No doubt that the destruction of humans and human order is a loss. IF we imagine this being true for ALL of humanity, then human beings might be close to extinct, and the race would be set back, and perhaps take a thousand years to recover.

However---one of the “good” results from WWII for Europe, and even Japan, was that after so much of their physical infrastructure was demolished, WHEN they rebuilt, they were able to start from scratch, and thereby use the most modern means. Yes, the war bombing razed lots of older and more inefficient factories.

Of course it did take a long time, but without the legacy factories holding them back, auto companies, for example, were able to retool and not be burdened by held over CRAP.

Think of the American unions and what they did to GM, and Ford, and Chrysler!

Basta!

posted by James at 8:43 AM
Contact me at jfcrystal@hotmail.com