Unlike the followers of Jim Jones, who drank that poison laced beverage, ours is filled with the lies we’ve all been served. That we are the richest country on earth is a prevailing lie. According to economists, we aren’t even in the top ten. We are in the top ten for having the greatest debt, compared to our production. Almost 20 trillion in debt, we now are paying almost 500 billion in interest yearly.
When I think of a wealthy person, I envision someone with millions, if not billions, of dollars. He owns his home, cars, yachts, vacation houses, and other toys, without debt. He does not owe interest, but collects it instead plus dividends on stocks, bonds and other holdings. He supports his family, a cook, maid, gardener, driver and other employees. His private secretary pays the household bills. He might not even carry money on his person. Most of the time, the very wealthy are male. If he is of the top tier in personal wealth, he is likely a banker.
The man in the paragraph above didn’t drink the Kool-Aid he provides for the rest of us. He’s a member of the Federal Reserve Banking cabal. I hope while you are drinking his offering, you don’t believe the Federal Reserve Bank is actually a branch of the U.S. government. It is a private bank that prints money and loans it to our government with interest.
Being a rich country is not necessarily a worthy goal. Most people do not automatically think of a rich person as a good person. We often consider them to be like Ebeneezer Scrooge, a painfully selfish and miserly specimen. Most of us would prefer our country be solvent and debt free, but also generous and helpful to those in need – not to feed them fish every day, but teach them to fish on their own, so to speak.
We know that the first duty of any valuable member of society is to care for themselves. By not keeping yourself healthy, knowledgeable, and on sound financial footing, you become a liability to others. No person in their right mind would think otherwise. So, why would we think a government should be less than that? A government with no debt, that lived within it’s means, would truly be in the best shape to be of service to it’s public. If we had no debt, we would have almost $500 billion we could put toward a rainy day fund – or fritter it away if left to some politicians. The “left” and the “right”, either one, is just as willing to buy more useless toys, if allowed.
While talking to many fellow veterans, our conversations are never are about the battles we won, that we were heroes, or that our counties “righteous cause” was anything more than the stupid decisions made by politicians. We were never allowed to actually “win”, but only to prolong a war. The makers and sellers of war materials were the only “winners” in the war I fought.
Governments seem complex until you think of their actions as those of an individual. I often do that to make sense of their actions. I can truly get a sense of how stupid and inept they can be.
Yes, as a young man I drank the Kool-Aid. I had purple lips with a sugar high, and followed the dictates of my country. I fought in a pointless war. I do love my country. I just hate to see reckless decisions on our behalf.