“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”
― Thomas Jefferson
Debt
Since The founding of our country, debt has been viewed negatively. Thomas Jefferson made an excellent point when he stated that debts made today will rob future generations. Where are we going with this? Well at the end of the 20th century our country began making loans at an unprecedented level.
The early 2000s saw the U.S. sitting at close to 10 trillion dollars in national debt, and seeing ballooning household debts. Our craving for more short term funding hit Mach speeds, and we landed ourselves in the Financial crisis of 2008. Since the Financial crisis the United States debts have grown exponentially. Will it end? Can we save ourselves? What is the answer?
Where did this Start?
Debt has existed for as long as human civilization dating back to the BC era of history. And has always been viewed as a fast way to fund a project, or to pursue an opportunity while worrying about the pay back later. The U.S debts began right after our revolution, and have been around ever since with little success paying them down to zero. We are now as a nation trillions of dollars in debt, all this thanks to banks who have been successful at trapping nations in deep debts. Central banks have been indebting nations since the first central bank in England in the 1600s.
The Federal Reserve started in 1913, and yes we had debts before that, but they only got bigger with the introduction of a central bank to America. Then once we stepped away from the gold standard in the 1970s, after we stepped into 100% fiat, any financial responsibility seems to have gone out the window. Thomas Jefferson warned against the banking business, and we have not heeded this warning. 2008 was a fork in the road; turn back, and let the banks fail, or prop them up and suppress future generations deeper in debt.
Where Has It Gone?
The U.S. government decided to bail the banks out to stop the “crisis.” The government should have let the banks fail, and let the economy naturally correct itself instead of propping up “too big to fail” giants. That action created a slow innovative environment for a lot of the developed world. Since then our national and household debt has grown exponentially. The 2008 bailout has led to artificial economic intervention like the world has never seen. Big businesses spend more recklessly than ever, because of this too big to fail environment they have enjoyed for over a decade.
Getting a loan, or credit card has never been easier and people have adopted the government mentality of short term gain, without thinking of long term consequences. You can argue that we have created the biggest economic bubble in world history, and the only way to sustain it is to continue down the debt hole. The legislative branch just last week passed another $1 trillion dollar spending bill showing they have no regard for generations to come. As I mentioned last time I wrote; 25% of all dollars ever were printed within the last 12 months.
Can We fix this?
Some of us have already begun adopting the solution. 17% of the adult population has adopted the answer to our economic woes: Cryptocurrency. These digital currencies can stop the bleeding, and get average people back into the green. We can stop losing spending power to a centralized system designed to make the masses poorer. We can use a system that is built for transparency, and trustless accountability where currency gains value.
Central banks may have created the never ending debt cycle, but decentralized cryptocurrencies are here to break the insanity, and give people control of the market once again. Debt does not need to define who we are. We can stop making banks rich, and stop being slaves to ever higher prices. You see, the government wants us to believe that the dollar is the end all be all, and if that’s the case, why have we lost almost all of its spending power in 50 years? When will we start repaying these debts with higher taxes and interest rates? I can tell you It’s not worth sticking around for answers. Choose the solution, don’t repeat the debt cycle.
Resources for Debt:
