Post Election Thoughts

The re-election of Barack Obama as President of the United States has been assured, and whether or not that means new hope or forward momentum, it is clear that American voters picked the leader they most believed would lead us to a better place. Many believe that his policies represent a victory for the middle class. But do they?

As American society becomes more and more polarized by economic and income inequality, our country is compromised. And we are compromised by forces much larger and greater than many of us comprehend. It is almost too much to believe that any one leader can right the wrongs inflicted on the American public for so long.

I am in the midst of reading "The Creature from Jekyll Island," by G. Edward Griffin, a book about the Federal Reserve. And it makes me angrier and angrier the more I understand. Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, describes the book this way:

"This is a murder mystery about the financial 'murder' of the middle class....."

And indeed it is. Here are just a few excerpts:

"The basic plan for the Federal Reserve System was drafted at a secret meeting held in November of 1910 at the private resort of J.P. Morgan on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia....[R]ival factions of the banking community had joined together...in restraint of trade....What emerged was a cartel agreement with five objectives: stop the growing competition from the nation's newer banks; obtain a franchise to create money out of nothing for the purpose of lending; get control of the reserves of all banks so that the more reckless ones would not be exposed to currency drains and bank runs; get the taxpayer to pick up the cartel's inevitable losses; and convince Congress that the purpose was to protect the public....As a banking cartel...it [the Federal Reserve] has been an unqualified success.

"The name of the game is Bailout....The objective of this game is to shift the inevitable losses from the owners of the larger banks to the taxpayers."

Sound familiar? The book goes on to give example after example of how this fraud and failure, with corresponding government bailout has played out over and over again, right up to our current economic crisis that began with the housing meltdown.

The book goes on to blame government intervention in the housing markets for distorting free market laws of supply and demand:

"Once the pattern of government intervention had been established, there began a long, unbroken series of federal rules and regulations that were the source of windfall profits for managers, appraisers, brokers, developers, and builders. They also weakened the industry by encouraging unsound business practices and high-risk investments."

And then the pattern of the Federal Reserve has been applied to international monetary policies, with dire consequences for the future of the American middle class. Our future has been mortgaged to the hilt, with unprecedented levels of debt. This book is an eye-opener for anyone who cares about finance, investment and economic welfare. I highly recommend it.

As for our own recent elections: Let's pray for some real hope in the wisdom of our current political leadership. They have their work cut out for them....