Archive for category Debt
Freedom Watch: Higher Interest Rates If Audit Ensues
Posted by Mike in Debt, H.R. 1207, S. 604, federal reserve on July 16th, 2009
Ron Paul and Judge Andrew Nepalitano on the Federal Reserve claiming that HR1207 would result in a lower rating for US debt.
On Part 2 Edward G Griffin, author of “The Creature from Jekyll Island.” The various segments are available by clicking the thumbnails at the bottom of the video once it completes.
Is Debt Slavery?
Posted by BillORights in Debt on April 18th, 2009
That is a good question. Most people don’t think of debt in terms of slavery, but in some circumstances, that is exactly what it is.
What is Slavery?
According to Wikipedia, slavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be, or treated as, the property of others. The “forced” part is important, because if you enter into an arrangement contractually and voluntarily, it is not slavery. In certain forms, debt is slavery.
When You Borrow, The Lender Owns a Portion of the Borrower
If you borrow money, the person that lends it to you owns that much of your time. Let’s see how this works.
Case 1: Bill Borrows $100 from Bob
Bill freely borrows $100 from Bob and agrees to pay him back. Let’s say that Bill earns $10/hr. This means that Bob now “owns” 10 hours of Bill’s time, because Bill must work for 10 hours to pay Bob back. Is this slavery? No, because it is an arrangement voluntarily agreed.
In other posts we’ll look at other forms of debt.
We Must Stop Them Before They Bankrupt Us
Posted by BillORights in Debt, Economy, Government Finances, National Debt, Social Security on April 14th, 2009
As you can see from the content on our Home Page, our financial situation is beyond dire. In fact, we are in deep, deep, trouble. We owe more money to future generations than the entire world produces in almost two years (source: CIA). This is incredible. This money is promised in Social Security and Medicare payments.
We Have Negative Equity
When your liabilities exceed you assets, you have a negative net worth. So it is with government finances. It owes, may more than it owns.
We Are Cash Flow Negative
The government debt is staggering. At over $11 trillion, it is almost equal to GDP. As scary as this is that we are borrowing $1 trillion/year to finance government spending! We spend more than we earn.
Our Government is Technically Insolvent
When you spend more than you earn and you owe more than you own, the word to describe the situation is insolvent. Another way to look at it is that we are bankrupt. This is not technically correct, because bankruptcy is a legal proceeding following insolvency.
We’re Borrowing from Foreigners
The only thing keeping our government functioning is that foreigners are still willing to lend it money. Once they realize the true state of the United States government finances they will stop. When they do, we will be in big trouble. This has started in the United Kingdom and will happen here unless we immediately change course. When a country starts buying up its own debt by printing money, watch out: Hyperinflation could be coming.