The pandemic will pass, but will the economic disease?

FJ CUDJOE

IN THE world of health, a disease is recognised by its symptom(s) and usually a cure is sought, but the simplest thing is to neutralise the symptoms; following this, the cure is pursued. Essentially there is an economic consequence to a person’s poor health and collectively to a nation’s.

The current pandemic and the ensuing consequences demand a closer look at the circumstances, And when we dissect the economics – not the virus because we have been working on viruses for years, including this one – a whole new universe of things are observed.

Several observations are made, the least of which is the economic impact of the pandemic on the global economy. The recent budget is said to reflect the revenue decline associated with the coronavirus. Or is that the reality? Contributory, yes, but the real cause of the economic decline may be found in the following paragraphs.

As we continue exploration of this new universe we realise that there were pre-existing unhealthy economic conditions (risk factors?) prior to covid19 – and that is globally.

All countries are mired in financial debt, some of which cannot be repaid – like the US at close to US$27 trillion.

It does not take an economist to figure out that’s the symptom of a serious disease, maybe terminal, considering the fact that throughout human history no country has even had that level of financial debt. And a closer look shows there is no income to satisfy it.

The question then is: if the debt is a symptom, what is the disease? Our budget indicates TT will spend more than its revenue. We are already in debt from previous years so now it’s more debt on top of all that – an economically diseased nation.

Fortunately we are exploring the universe that’s exposed from our economic investigation and the history, like in medicine, must be looked at.

The year is 1913. Why? Because the symptoms seem to have been recurring since that time. At first not as serious, but as with any disease the symptoms worsen with the passage of time if there is no intervention.

It is a fact that the US Federal Reserve Act was passed in December 1913, and it is also a well documented and unrefuted fact that the circumstances surrounding Fed bill were dubious at best.

Details are clear and concise in G Edward Griffin’s book, The Creature From Jekyll Island. And professor emeritus of economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Richard Wolffe’s recent publication, The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save US from Pandemics or Itself, talks about transitioning to an economic system that works for all of us.

The ensuing monetary system of the Federal Reserve has been accompanied by boom-and-bust economic cycles every five-system years since 1913, and something very curious happens every time during these cycles – a transfer of wealth happens. Always, or most times, from the working people back to the banks and, as is popularly known, “the one-percenters.”

I wonder if that fact goes a long way in understanding why “the rich is getting richer, the poor is getting poorer and the middle class is shrinking.” Something we hear from mainstream media ad nauseam.

These are more symptoms of an unchecked economic disease that has now infected the global population after its ignominious start in the US – eerily like the health pandemic we now face – and foisting a confluence of evil on the world.

The pandemic began in China and spread throughout the globe, versus an economic disease that began in the US and spread to the rest of the world. It makes one wonder why is the US suffering the worst from the pandemic.

Just a question that came to mind, nothing else.

As the “search” for a vaccine involves understanding and manipulating the virus’s anatomy, so too must we pursue a cure for our global economic malignancy by dissecting its construct – something too detailed for this layman’s offering.

Another known fact is that the fiat currency is fuel for the boom-and-bust cycles because of the manipulations by the Fed, for, as they say, employment and economic growth also cause loss in purchasing power of the US dollar.

From 1913 to the present the US dollar has lost 97 per cent of its buying power, according to the Federal Reserve Education Department website. That is bad news for the rest of the world’s currencies that are “floating” with the dollar, including TT’s.

So we have at the moment a global viral pandemic, simultaneously with an economic problem of similar magnitude.

It is well known that, like the Spanish Flu, etc, this virus will depart to be replaced by another, and we have no control over that – it’s the work of our creator.

But we have control over man’s innovation; the economic disease we created we must cure.

We know money is not fiat currency and fiat currency through inflation by the Fed-led central banks steals the wealth of the people – that’s undeniable. Money, on the other hand – gold and silver (cryptocurrency is rearing its head) – preserves wealth.

Again from history we see that at different points in time the US had gold or silver backing the currency, which were convertible to those commodities, as they have been identified in some quarters. Why the Fed and government refrain from calling them money is a discussion for another time.

The cure for the economic disease for one country is not a complex one. However, after 107 years it has metastasised to the whole world, creating a problem of gargantuan proportions. But we can cure it, once we find the will, that is – we the people who create value and determine what money is; what we must work for, not fiat currency.

That in essence is a frontal attack on the economic disease.

And it’s not for the Fed or any other private central bank that has the authorisation to create currency at a profit to themselves, at the people’s expense, to continue with a fiat currency system – even though going forward it will be digital.

As a matter of scientific observation, the digitisation of fiat currency looks like it will escalate the economic symptoms of the economic disease, which we can cure – once we find the will.