AUDREY'S MISSILES A weekly newsletter dedicated to the peaceful reform of the United States government. ECONOMIC MYTHS American presidents are not known for their intellect, but most of them have realized that their tenure in office was tightly linked to the health of the economy. In fact, rulers throughout history have been very much aware of this connection. At times and in places where the characteristics of money were not well understood, the solution to the problem of economic turndown was to print more money, a scheme which created no wealth but merely drove up prices. Some nations tied their monetary systems to gold, hoping to prevent the politicians from debasing the currency. With the creation of the Federal Reserve system in the United States in the early part of the 1900s, Congress attempted to make the monetary system independent of political manipulation so that presidents could not pump up the economy only to have it fall on their successors. Bill Clinton, intelligent, unscrupulous, and keenly aware that his own survival was tied to the health of the economy, found a number of ways of stimulating it and creating the appearance of economic well being. One of the first things that he did was to promote trade with other nations. In the guise of "Free Trade", he drained wealth from this country through the uncontrolled trade deficit. It did temporarily stimulate business. He was tapping our consumer market, a reserve of wealth which, given the flight of factory jobs, was bound to be dissipated sooner or later. His opening of the border with Mexico not only facilitated trade, but it also facilitated the entry of illegal immigrants - another temporary stimulant to the economy. The other edge to his strategy was to keep the stock market from crashing and control statistics so that public confidence in prosperity could be maintained. He propped up the stock market more than once. (Wall Street carefully hid the source of the large purchases which turned the market around at critical times.) Real information as to the extent of inflation was not given out. The unemployment statistics, frequently cited as evidence of our strong economy, were compiled using suspect methods. (They did not count those who were underemployed.. They did not count those who were unemployed for more than six months, and they had a complex secret formula by which they arrived at the percentages, a system which is probably still in use.) Illegal drugs began to come across the Mexican border by the truckload. To hide the effects Clinton transferred control of the crime statistics from police to the FBI because publicly available real statistics would have shown alarming increases. But, with a firm hold on the numbers, and with the cooperation of the news media and the big corporations, all of this was fairly well hidden from the public. Business exploited labor, organized crime exploited the public, and capital left the continental U.S. as factories moved to Mexico and overseas. The United States has been in recession for quite some time. With the flight of factories well-paying factory jobs disappeared, enlarging ghettos in the big cities. In order to survive, many of the unemployed turned to pushing drugs and committing other crimes, and our justice system was inundated. Children of drug-using parents were, and continue to be, abused, neglected, and abandoned, while we have not been able to build prisons for their parents fast enough. The number of homeless people has grown alarmingly. Food lockers dispensing food to those in need have found their shelves bare. The influx of immigrants has put additional strains on our infrastructure and our energy supplies. These and other factors, coupled with the rising cost of foreign oil, are at the base of the stock market slide. It has taken some years for the market to reflect our "consumption without production" economy, but it looks as if it has finally happened. Few would risk predicting how far the markets will fall and how long the negative conditions will last. Rather than a loss of consumer confidence as the spin doctors would have us believe, it is a loss of consumer BUYING POWER. The myth of the panacea of Alan Greenspan's interest rate manipulation is about to be shattered. Bush Junior doesn't know it, but he is in imminent danger of being Hooverized* because at this very critical time he pushes a simplistic solution, a proposal he would have put forth regardless of the health of the economy! Teetering on the edge of a sea of turbulent economic waters which are well over his head, Junior is throwing a life ring to the rest of us: "Tax cut! Tax cut! Tax cut!" * Herbert Hoover, President of the U.S. at the time of the 1929 stock market crash, given "credit" by much of the public for the great depression of the 1930's. READ THIS NEWSLETTER AND THEN GIVE IT TO A FRIEND. No copyright on the content of AUDREY'S MISSILES is claimed since it is our hope that the information in this newsletter will be copied and distributed widely. Topics covered are those which are not adequately treated on TV or in the press. If you live in the 209 calling area end a request to 209 847-7588 for a free fax subscription. E-mail is free anywhere. Paid subscriptions are not accepted. Comments may be sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/23/01 Stock Market ========================================================================== [EMAIL PROTECTED] is an moderated maillist about government reform. 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