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- Essays: On The Road (And A Little Off)


 



   Panama Gets Fed up with the Fed

Rockvale TN, June 27, 2012 --- Now I'm no financial titan, no master of the universe, in fact my bidness card should read "Panama Red ---Experienced Wealth Mismanagement, Guaranteed Results".

But lately I've been thinking, it's dangerous for a man in my condition, I know but there's a question I've been asking myself lately, namely:

Why do we have a system where the Fed lends money to the Banks so that the Banks can buy Government Bonds, giving the Government money for the bonds which the Government then has to repay at interest somewhere down the line? There's where your deficit comes from, friends and neighbors.

Why doesn't the Fed lend money to the Government, charging the same interest rate that it now charges the Banks? Then the Government can pay the Fed back, and the deficit will drop by trillions. The Banks might then have to make it on their own, unimpeded by excess regulations, acting like, I don't know, well, like Banks are supposed to: taking in deposits, making loans, collecting interest, that kind of thing.

Where does the money go? Where does the money come from? Whose money is it anyway, when you get down to it? Why is the Government lending money to the Banks so that the Government can borrow money from the Banks?

Now all the financiers and Congressmen explain that this is a way to get new money into circulation. Giving it to the Banks who can then make loans (not very often) or buy Government bonds at very steep rates (all the time).

I think I got a better idea: instead of giving the money to the banks, why not cut a check for a few thousand bucks to each of us real Amurrican citizens out here in the populace (it's supposed to be our money, after all). I guarantee that if I got big money in the mail tomorrow I'd be downtown in about thirty minutes flat, shopping like crazy. I'd buy a bass boat, or a Martin 0015 guitar (the little one in mahogany). The point is that that money would be back in circulation and folks would be able to hire new workers due to the sudden increase in demand for bass boats and Martin guitars.

And they wouldn't be made in no China, neither.

Then, come tax time, the Internal Revenue Service could say "Hey, what about that bass boat? You owe your government some a that thousands of dollars we sent you in the mail. Now the interest on that is about 0.5%
So pony up, Slim."

And we would, because we'd have jobs makin bass boats and guitars (and a buncha other stuff), and because we love our country.

That's what I think. Now I know from personal experience that petitioning your Congressman and Senators ain't gonna result in any kind of massive makeover in the way Mr Bernanke does his business, so I won't bother askin you to write a letter or make a call unless you're so inclined by your own self.

Stay away from them banks. Let's Grover Norquist them and see how they like drowning in the bathtub.

In the meantime, join a credit union. They belong to their depositors.



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