Barney, Harry, Nancy and Barack could just have readily come out of Douglas Adams’ imagination.
They so remind me of my favorite scene out of his marvelous book, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
The manager of the planet Fintlewoodlewix explains that “since we decided to adopt the leaf as legal tender, we have all of course become immensely rich. But we have run into a small inflation problem owing to high leaf availability. That means the current rate is something like three major deciduous forests buy one ship's peanut. In order to obviate this problem and revalue the leaf, we've decided on an extensive campaign of defoliation and burn down all the forests. I think that's a sensible move, don't you?”
The combined terms in elected office for Barney Frank, Harry Reed, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama add up to nearly 100 years, while their combined experience in private industry adds up to less than the average job tenure at McDonald’s.
Those of us living here within the province of Natural Law inherit an understanding of money as an expression of worth. Barney’s, Harry’s, Nancy’s and Barack’s avoidance of living within the natural world of free enterprise equates to a lack of appreciation for what money is.
I believe that the long train of abuses and usurpations from Washington are due, in part, to their lack of appreciation for what money is.
Bear with me while I go over the basics. I offer this in the hope that someone might have the opportunity to read this little story to Barney, Harry, Nancy and Barack.
A farmer can exchange vegetables for the services of a mechanic to repair his tractor.
If they agree that one hour of the mechanic’s services is worth 25 pounds of vegetables, relative values are established. The convenience of money comes in when the farmer needs more repair services than the mechanic needs vegetables.
When the farmer sells his vegetables to another family at one dollar per pound, the value of his product is stored in that cash. The mechanic can expect to receive $25 for every hour that he works repairing the farmer’s tractor. The mechanic can then exchange this cash on meat from the rancher for perhaps $4 per pound.
With voluntary purchase transactions, the buyer values the product or service more than the money that he/she is paying. Concurrently, the seller values the money being received more than the product or service that he/she is delivering. Both parties are better off.
Whether it is acquired in exchange for labor, talent, software, food, or housing -- money represents value developed or inherited by the citizens. When the governed consent to taxation for funding commercial infrastructure and defense, they are expecting a reasonable return on that investment.
When bureaucrats with no appreciation for capitalism get ambitious with their utopian dreams, the effect is an environment of unnatural law that imposes itself on the farmer, the mechanic, and the rancher.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies.
Don’t panic. The election season of 2012 has begun.
And it is our right, it is our duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for our future security.
More stories from Townhall Finance
This Week's Top Tweet: Mr President, DO Something John Ransom
Oil Prices, Inventories Down, plus Railroads a Comin' Zacks Investment Research
Spanish and Greek Tea Parties Mike Shedlock
SuckedIn or LinkedIn? - Investing for Idiots Gil Morales and Chris Karcher
The Hitchhicker's Guide To Money Mark Baisley
Tackling the Multitasking Myth Daniel Forrester
Investing for Idiots: Bear Markets are Good! Gil Morales and Chris Karcher
One-on-One with Senator Tom Coburn Larry Kudlow
Email, Hate Mail and Comments from Readers John Ransom
A Peak Underneath Bill Tatro
A New Official Number: The Dependency Ratio. Really Mike Shedlock
Obama, Your Jimmy Carter is Showing John Ransom
For daily market commentary visit Ransom and Friends at the Ticker
Follow John Ransom on Twitter @bamransom and Facebook at: bamransom
Email Ransom at: thfinance@mail.com
Join the conversation as a VIP Member