Worse than any disease or even leprosy, anyone spouting Austrian economics or even “common sense” (almost extinct today) has been shoved into the outcast corner by the mass delusional majority. Over the last few years, “theory after theory” has become fact after FACT afterFACT! There can no longer be any question, conspiracy to delude and defraud has run rampant and is a day to day operation in the Western world.
Originally my thought was to write this piece about and around the perfect response, “but you do agree the government is bankrupt, right?“. I say this because almost anyone (in the U.S.), no matter what age, sex, religion, race or financial status will generally agree with this. For those who don’t agree, it is better to leave well enough alone, this is a subset living in their own delusional world.
For those who do agree “the government is broke”, they are broken down into basic subsets. There are those who “get it” fully. There are those who know the government is broke but don’t really understand what it means or the ramifications (they can’t connect the dots). Another group are those who agree and know in the back of their mind this is true …but they don’t REALLY believe it because they simply cannot …”it’s too awful to comprehend”. Then, we have another group, probably the largest of all, those who agree but think it really doesn’t matter. They may also believe no financial crisis will ever occur because “the government will never let it happen”. Let’s talk about this group next.
The “can’t happen here” crowd only need the dots connected for them. I believe it is best to ask them questions in an effort to lead them to their own answer and understanding. This is much better than lecturing or “telling” them because they will actually have to think to answer your questions. Questions such as:
- if the government is broke, how will they make good on their obligations such as payrolls, Social Security, food stamps, paying the military and most importantly paying on their debt? Forget the first four, “do you realize Treasury securities are what funds Social Security, your pension, the bank’s balance sheet which holds your money …AND what underlies the dollar itself?”!
- If the above doesn’t work, you might ask if the economy currently “feels good”? Then ask, do you realize the federal government spends almost 20% of GDP (and their spending is “counted” as part of GDP). If they are broke and have to drastically cut back on spending, will the economy not shrink by the amount the government can no longer spend? Do you see without government spending, under any definition we would be in a depression greater than the 1930′s?