Jill Biden has a lot to answer for. The video moment of the night was of her escorting Joe Biden off the CNN Debate stage while refusing to escort him off the world stage. Yet, following a train wreck so bad that Pete Buttigieg took another paternity leave to avoid it, the First Lady doubled down by excitingly telling the President, “You answered every question!” From movie stars to U.S. Presidents to world-renowned evangelists, virtually every family in America struggles at some point with taking the keys away. There’s no deception like self-deception, and Jill Biden remains at the top of the spear of the lies spread by the White House, DNC, and most of the media regarding Joe Biden’s abilities. Enabling happens when caregivers are not in a good place — they can’t or won’t make the hard call. At a Washington DC reception years ago, the late Strom Thurmond (R-SC) happily pocketed Buffalo wings —  leaving the sauce dripping from his suit jacket pocket. Aides quickly rushed to his side to remove him from the buffet and clean up the mess. At the time, Senator Strom Thurmond was in his nineties, President and pro-tempore of the United States Senate and fourth in line to the presidency. (READ MORE: Ageless Senator Strom) In 2010, Rep. Hank Johnson (D- GA) became a punchline when expressing his concern that overpopulation on the island of Guam would cause it to “tip over and capsize.” While bizarre statements and actions by elected officials remain too lengthy to record, some behaviors can indicate a more significant problem. What about when an entire political party and agenda hangs on the tenure of an impaired government official? Who dims the spotlight? First Ladies Before Jill Biden America’s political history remains filled with elected officials demonstrating questionable abilities while holding office. Jill Biden echoes another first lady, Edith Wilson, who covered extensively for her husband, Woodrow Wilson, following his stroke. In her autobiography, My Memoir, the former first lady stated, So began my stewardship, I studied every paper, sent from the different Secretaries or Senators, and tried to digest and present in tabloid form the things that, despite my vigilance, had to go to the President. I, myself, never made a single decision regarding the disposition of public affairs. The only decision that was mine was what was important and what was not, and the very important decision of when to present matters to my husband. While Edith Wilson declared that she never made a “single decision regarding the disposition of public affairs,” she failed to see that she was indeed making decisions by selecting “what was important and what was not.” She also disregarded the fact that the American people elected Woodrow Wilson, not Edith Wilson. To be fair, Edith Wilson and Jill Biden are not the only First Ladies who have enabled or choreographed a sitting U.S. President. Nor are spouses the only culprits. Famous and influential people often fuel an industry around them of individuals with financial and political stakes in the celebrity or politician remaining on stage. While every caregiver — without exception — will find themselves disoriented in the “Caregiver FOG” (Fear, Obligation, Guilt) many become enablers by not only getting lost in the “Caregiver FOG” but also due to greed. Celebrities Too Some celebrities and their families, such as superstar musician Glen Campbell, use their diagnosis and infirmities as a platform to say goodbye. Honest about his struggle with Alzheimer’s, Campbell launched a farewell tour where audiences knew of his disease. The documentary I’ll Be Me reveals the story and challenges faced by the family, musicians, and others who worked on Campbell’s team. The tour and documentary honored his legacy, bid a final goodbye to his fans, and spotlighted the difficulties of families coping with Alzheimer’s disease. Bruce Willis’ family escorted the movie star off the stage in a heartwarming — and heartbreaking — goodbye. In 1994, Ronald Reagan signed off from public life until his death ten years later — but signs were evident long before. Billy Graham left the pulpit following his decline due to Parkinson’s and age.  My father also left the pulpit due to challenges brought on by Parkinson’s disease. From movie stars to U.S. Presidents to world-renowned evangelists, virtually every family in America struggles at some point with taking the keys away, prohibiting unsupervised access to cooking devices and bathtubs, and even confiscating a mobile phone from a family member with cognitive impairments. While impairments come in many forms, such as aging, disease, injury, alcohol, or drugs, enabling also manifests itself in numerous ways. He’s just tired; She’s got a lot on her; He’s in a lot of pain; She’s just eccentric; Oh, he’s always been that way. The 2024 CNN Debate prompted another: “He’s got a cold.” All those phrases and more reflect the human condition — we’re prone to deceive others and ourselves. Without objective and established safeguards, the addiction to power, fame, and money can quickly blind any of us — even to propping up someone beyond our capabilities. How many musicians careened onto stages while filled with drugs and alcohol? How many elected officials stayed in power too long? Without exception, caregivers of impaired loved ones will find themselves in the predicament of enabling. In those moments, clarity, objectivity, honesty, and courage remain essential for making healthy decisions for the caregiver, the loved one, and all who stand in the path of that loved one’s impairment. Because millions remain vulnerable due to Joe Biden’s obvious impairment, the pressure on Jill Biden only intensifies. Helping her husband off the stage following the debate may serve as metaphor of a near-future event. Refusal to make the hard call may put his and other lives at risk. (READ MORE: The Trump-Biden Debate Changed Everything, or Did It?) Protection of an impaired loved one and all in their path is the number one task of being a caregiver. Caregiving is often heartbreaking. Enabling makes it even more painful. Peter Rosenberger has served as a family caregiver for four decades. He hosts the nationally syndicated radio program, Hope for the Caregiver. PeterRosenberger.com. The post Jill Biden: The Enabler-In-Chief appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

ERBIL, KURDISTAN — Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish territory of Kurdistan may be the most pro-American area in the Middle East. The Biden administration recently extended aid to Kurdistan’s Peshmerga militia and its operations against the Islamic State. Although the military threat to Kurdistan has receded, its existence remains tenuous. Kurdistan’s people live in a bad neighborhood, with national, political, ethnic, and religious disputes all around them. Hostility and persecution have dominated, most recently when the Islamic State briefly conquered much of the country, a decade ago coming within 55 miles of Erbil. Thousands were killed and millions were displaced, with much of the violence directed against religious minorities. Children also showed greater acceptance of girls and religious minorities in class. Moreover, kids felt greater sympathy for victims of violence. Today Kurdistan’s ties with the U.S. also make it a target of Iran and the its allies. Iranian-backed Shia militias frequently rocket the American military base at Erbil, while in January Iran launched a missile attack on what it claimed to be the local “espionage headquarters” of Mossad. Indeed, the threat of missile attacks caused the airline to cancel my flights just days before my planned departure for Kurdistan earlier this year. Iran’s missile strike resulted in temporary closure of the airport. (READ MORE from Doug Bandow: Iran Tries To Stem Religious Conversions From Islam) Alas, Kurdistan’s relations with Baghdad sometimes seem little better. Pursuit of independence in 2017 triggered tighter central government controls; last September Kurdish and Iraqi forces clashed over a contested military base. Erbil Governor Omed Xoshnaw complained: “War is being waged against the Kurdistan Region from all sides.” With the territory of five million people losing ground, dependent on Baghdad’s financial largesse, controlled by “the ruling duopoly” of two antagonistic ruling families, and under pressure from Turkey, Kurdistan’s government unsuccessfully sought a major boost in support by Washington. It is difficult to be neutral in a region where everyone else seems to take sides. Yet Kurdistan is not just home to the Kurdish people. With Kurds never much taken with Islamic radicalism, the territory became a sanctuary for persecuted minorities. After the Bush administration’s 2003 invasion triggered sectarian conflict, many Christians fled north to safety. The Syrian civil war and ISIS’s later advance across Iraq spurred additional desperate human waves, including Yazidis and members of other vulnerable faiths. During my first visit to Kurdistan, the church across the street from my hotel hosted refugees in its courtyard. In its 2024 annual report the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom described the status of religious minorities in Iraq as “precarious.” Explained the Commission:  Iraqis of many faith backgrounds, especially religious minorities, faced ongoing political marginalization by the government as well as abuse by both government-affiliated and nonstate actors. The [Iraqi and Kurdish governments’] continued failure to resolve longstanding jurisdictional disputes over certain northern territories created a power vacuum filled by armed groups, including the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), defensive Yazidi fighters and Yazidis groomed into PMF service, and remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Hardwired in Kurdistan Many groups, American and international, seek to combat religious persecution around the world. Hardwired, founded by former Capitol Hill staffer Tina Ramirez, stands out for seeking to combat intolerance, hatred, and violence at the root, people’s beliefs of one another. Its name reflects the belief that people are “hardwired” to possess a conscience and respect the lives and dignity of others.  Ramirez said the group provides “legal, educational, and social training in the promotion of these values in diverse cultural contexts.” The plan is to cultivate “a culture of respect for the innate human dignity of all people in their communities, regardless of faith or creed.” Hardwired runs several education and training initiatives, but the most important in Kurdistan are school programs for students, which address teachers and parents along the way. The organization goes to places most people avoid. I’ve traveled with Ramirez and her colleagues to South Sudan, Morocco, and Kosovo, as well as Kurdistan earlier this year. When we arrived in Erbil it seemed a world apart. “The situation is fragile,” said Ramirez of nearby Mosul, long home to many Christians: “No one is sure what will happen. The militias could fight at any time.” The Christian minority did not publicly celebrate Christmas. The Gaza conflict had “increased the hostility of Shia militias,” she explained. These feeling were even shared by Kurds otherwise friendly toward the U.S. and Israel. A Kurdish teacher told me that the fighting had “united the community on a humanitarian level,” since “we all have experienced injustice.” He emphasized: “we know what it feels like to have civilians killed, kids killed.” Thus, “everyone is united around this injustice, regardless of religious, political and ethnic dimension.” Which makes Kurdistan and the surrounding area, including Mosul, an important venue for efforts to reduce religious and ethnic tensions. Hence Hardwired’s extensive program, begun in 2015. The group has created the world of Fruitopia, in which people are assigned to be different fruits and interact with each other. Immersing themselves in this admittedly unusual alternative universe has enabled kids to address some of the most serious social issues, helping to transform minds and hearts. For instance, in the 2023-2024 school year the school prepared 768 teachers for the mission and is expected to reach more than 8,000 students. Next year the group will add a second training session for teachers and undertake new initiatives to promote pluralism among students. Ramirez spoke of the need “to create a culture of resilience.” To do so, “it is essential that we embed the initiative to create change.” She noted that Hardwired’s work is audited, and the reviewers found that some 70 percent of participants had changed their minds. During my visit I discovered much hope among otherwise fearful teachers and trainers, along with the transformation of individual lives that will hopefully deliver a better future. Hardwired’s school curricula help children of different grades understand why they should reject the prejudices of those around them and treat as equals those who think differently or look unfamiliar. The objective is to create a safe environment within which children can discuss and experience pluralism even if it is absent elsewhere in their lives. Although kids are the ultimate target, Hardwired first must prepare additional trainers and teachers, who will further spread the message. A trainer noted that “real change requires deep discussion” about the issues. After transforming the teachers, and those who train them, Hardwired hopes to change the students. Teachers Respond I talked with a group of teachers from Mosul, an Iraqi city near Erbil which had a large Christian population before the Islamic State’s devastating rampage, who assessed the program. One said that there was “a lot of suffering in Mosul. Participation in the program was out of need since it provided a way to rebuild the community.” He was “happy to be part of it” because it “was helping to build the community again.” Another teacher said that the participants “loved it.” A female teacher — women were in the minority but very much present — noted that demand “for such a program was very intense.” Hate speech was “very open” in the region. Much was directed against Christians. Hate speech also sometimes targeted Shia and Sunnis. She was “very concerned that such speech was seeing the light again.” Some groups “trade on conflict,” using “any occasion to fuel it.” A teacher from a Kurdish area bordering Turkey said that “the program is very much needed” since “conflicts are still happening.” He told us that the “biggest evidence of the program’s impact is the fact that he drove all the way to the meeting.” Other teachers, who were overwhelmingly Muslim, argued that it was “very important to help them understand Christians” and other religious minorities, and that the program was “very different from anything else happening in the region.” One urged Hardwired to increase its activities: “There are lots of questions about the program. When will they repeat it, and expand it?” He insisted: “we need more,” especially in rural areas with tribal conflict. Another teacher’s main complaint was the “lack of follow on.” A Kurdish teacher said that “at the personal level the program is very impactful.” As a result, she stayed in contact with Hardwired. The program “helped open minds,” she observed. In her case, she “gained perspective, to see through a plan for the long term.” It was “a chance to hear different perspectives which she never had heard before.” Another teacher had a similar reaction: “The program is like I put on new glasses. I see things completely differently.” It changed him at work, he said. He had been “very stubborn,” but has “become more open-minded and willing to listen to other perspectives.” He said that his work at the education ministry has changed. A third said that he had “embedded a sense of pluralism within his family.” He said that he “now thinks about what others are thinking, what is fueling” their behavior. In another meeting, a trainer reported that participants “built trustful relations with people we trained. Since then, they are talking more with us.” As a result, he said he completely changed his approach to education. After the training “the teachers change,” said a participant. “They realize that they can’t be a concrete mixture if the parts don’t work together.” (READ MORE: At 75, Remember NATO Objective of Rearming Europe) Another trainer talked about the importance of bringing this message “to teachers of Islamic studies.” They tended to “isolate themselves within groups. Most did not engage, since doing so might contradict their agendas.” In some cases, he added, believers in different religions were convinced that they could not forgive one another. Others feared that outsiders “were coming to corrupt them.” A Christian trainer said that in one of the toughest areas, an ISIS-dominated village, Hardwired found “motivation, encouragement, and a willingness to take the concept further and implement it.” Tensions between Arabs and Kurds were high, going back to conflicts between earlier generations. Yet the result was “real change” among those who went through the program. After which they were better able to see outside their community and seek to move from intolerance to pluralism.   A consistent theme was that the principles advanced influenced teachers as well as students and helped change lives. A teacher said that “everyone was engaged” in the program. Another observed that many teachers “experienced flashbacks to our experiences, connected to examples in recent years of what happened to us.” In his case, at least, the training process “brought up his experiences and opened them up,” enabling him to confront them. Most of the teachers with whom I spoke were fervent advocates for the program. One said that “in most cases people were thirsty for such concepts.” Participants urged expansion of the training to art and sports teachers. Another explained that the lessons had broad applicability, including addressing “problems on the playground” and more. In sum, it was “a very successful experiment, able to achieve a lot.” Surveys of participants delivered similar results. After the class, students demonstrated greater respect for people of different backgrounds or religions. Children also showed greater acceptance of girls and religious minorities in class. Moreover, kids felt greater sympathy for victims of violence. Classes with students of mixed backgrounds enjoyed the greatest increase in learning. And children’s tolerance of and respect for others increased throughout the program. Given this experience Ramirez said she plans to “come back and work with teachers who have been trained,” and to “later expand it to more cities.” She hopes to be able to “choose newly assigned, younger teachers” to have a more lasting impact. When she asked teachers at the meetings whether they would be willing to help, they enthusiastically discussed who could assist where. They clearly believed in the program. (READ MORE: Xi Jinping’s Persecution of Chinese Christians) Obviously, there are no panaceas to the problem of religious intolerance, hostility, and persecution. A multitude of challenges must be addressed, requiring a wide variety of responses, in Kurdistan and elsewhere. However, long-term progress requires confronting proverbial “root causes.” Hardwired’s work demonstrates that it is possible to combat the transmission of hate to future generations. The group’s programs are reaching school kids and helping them move beyond enmity and intolerance, and the dismal, even deadly, future likely to result. More such initiatives are desperately needed in Iraq, and elsewhere around the world. Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire. The post Kurdistan Suffers From Hate appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

The ongoing border crisis in America poses significant national security concerns, including the potential for domestic terrorism. Since fiscal year 2021, there have been 9.2 million encounters nationwide, with 7.6 million being at the Southwest border. In June, ISIS-affiliated smuggling networks successfully smuggled more than 400 migrants across the southern border. And while more than 150 of them have been arrested by ICE, the whereabouts of more than 50 remain unknown. A 2024 DEA report indicates that the Cartels now control an extensive network of smuggling routes into the U.S. “The terrorism warning lights are blinking red again”, said Mike Morell, former deputy director of the CIA, comparing current national security concerns to that of Sep. 11 and calling for a sense of urgency. This was not an isolated incident as more terrorists are being apprehended throughout the U.S., like Mohammad Kharwin, an Afghan national with ties to an anti-Western terror group called Hezb-e-Islami (HIG). He was processed at the border but later released via a program known as ATD. Mohammad was arrested almost a year later after the FBI notified ICE of Kharwin’s affiliation. (READ MORE: Joe Biden’s Executive Amnesty Is Illegal, Unjust, and Self-Defeating) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that 1.8 million illegal migrants had been observed to cross the border successfully without being processed, labeled as “gotaways.” These types of migrants bypass all existing immigration checks, making it impossible to verify their identities, backgrounds, or intentions. Additionally, the current vetting process utilized by CBP is only as effective as the individual’s biometric data collected, which is often limited at the time of the encounter. A 2024 DHS threat assessment report indicated that approximately 160 non-U.S. persons on the FBI’s terrorist watch list have attempted to cross the Southern border, a 60 percent increase from the previous year. The shortcomings of the existing vetting process, combined with the immense pressure to process and release individuals quickly, enable bad actors to fall through the cracks and be released into our country. In fact, terrorists have already been caught roaming our communities. On January 20, 2024, an affiliate member of Al-Shabaab, a U.S. designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), successfully crossed the Southern border and was living in the United States for nearly a year before he was arrested in Minnesota. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) later discovered that he was on the terror watchlist for bomb-making, and was involved in arms dealing while he was living in the U.S. Many illegal aliens come from hostile countries including Russia, China, Syria, and Afghanistan. Earlier this year, ICE, in conjunction with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, arrested eight suspected terrorists with ties to ISIS. The arrests took place in New York, Philadelphia, and California. The eight men were from Tajikistan, the country that ISIS-K considers as one of its main recruiting grounds. ISIS-K was responsible for the terrorist attack on Moscow earlier in March that killed over 130 people. The same group was also responsible for the suicide bombing attack in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians. “The threats from homegrown violent extremists that is jihadist-inspired, extremists, domestic violent extremists, foreign terrorist organizations, and state-sponsored terrorist organizations all being elevated at one time,” said Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI. While foreign terrorist organizations are exploiting our porous borders, nation-state adversaries are too. In FY2024, 24,376 Chinese nationals have been encountered at the Southwest border. That is an 8,000 percent increase compared to March 2021. For decades, China has been accused of various crimes against the U.S., including intellectual property theft, cyberattacks, and espionage. The CCP could be viewing America’s border crisis as the perfect opportunity to clandestinely embed agents within U.S. communities, establishing sleeper cells and conducting espionage activities. The Mexican cartels have also used our weak borders to infiltrate the U.S. and distribute deadly drugs like Fentanyl, Methamphetamine, along with other ingredients for synthetic drugs. A 2024 DEA report indicates that the Cartels now control an extensive network of smuggling routes into the U.S., along with several drug distribution hubs throughout major American cities. (READ MORE: The Left’s Noncitizen Voting Gambit) America’s border crisis poses serious national security risks that are likely to culminate in catastrophic consequences. The U.S. must adopt a comprehensive, multi-layered approach to secure its borders and enact stringent surveillance and vetting processes. Border security is national security, and it’s time for all levels of government to align and take decisive actions to safeguard America’s security. The post Border Crisis Could Ignite Terrorist Attacks appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

During Thursday night’s debate between Presidents Biden and Trump many questions related to the state of the economy and economic policy were broached. Conspicuously absent from the debate, however, were any questions or even a mention of the largest economic elephant in the room: the Federal Reserve System. The Fed is more responsible than anyone else for skewing income in favor of crony CEOs. Economic headlines are a swirl of contradictory reports of low unemployment, sluggish economic output, distressed banks, income inequality, and rumors of income inequality. Yet hardly any member of the press corps or candidate for elected office desires to seriously consider the Federal Reserve’s role in bringing our society to its present economic condition. When they do, a plethora of politicians and supporting intellectuals increasingly embrace the Federal Reserve System as indispensable to our nation’s economic health. (READ MORE: Is the Federal Reserve Overstepping Its Mission?) The reality is that pro-Fed propaganda started at the very beginning of its creation. A mere year after its founding, the Report of the Comptroller of the Currency said that with the advent of the Fed, financial panics such as what happened in 1907 would “seem to be mathematically impossible.” Claims that financial crises could be avoided by the Fed’s provision of an elastic currency transitioned over the past 110 years to claims that the Fed would provide stable prices, full employment, and ultimately complete macroeconomic and financial stability. In light of this rhetoric, how should we evaluate the real consequences of Fed action? To put it bluntly, far from being the necessary first cause of economic prosperity, the Fed is neither necessary nor helpful. In fact, it is a criminally destructive enterprise. The Federal Reserve is the monopolist of all monopolists. It has the sole privilege of issuing bank notes accepted as legal tender in the United States. Defenders of the necessity of the  Fed forget that money, as an economic good, can be produced competitively just us well as soft drinks, celery, shoes, gasoline, or smart phones. Just as we do not need a central shoe producer to ensure the optimal quantity and quality of shoes, we also do not need a central bank maintaining some supposed optimal money supply ensuring stable prices or magnitude of spending. In the first place, it should be recognized that there is no single “price level” to be stabilized. Prices can never truly be averaged into one number that scientifically measures the level of all prices. To average something, the items must be in the same units. If we cannot add up different goods such as hats, a pound of sugar, a smartphone, a pair of shoes, and a tank of gasoline, we cannot get a true average. Using a weighted average such as is done by the Consumer Price Index does not solve the problem because any basket of goods relevant for one household will be different than that for another household. Additionally, the goods represented in the denominator of the chosen basket are still different units of different goods. Because there is no solitary price level, it cannot be stabilized. Even if a scientific price level existed for the entire economy, we do not need a central bank to provide any optimal quantity of money to increase, decrease, or keep it the same. In a free society, the optimal quantity of money would be provided by private money producers guided by the same profit and loss calculations constraining the producers of every other economic good. If people demanded to hold more money, they would satisfy their demand by spending less and selling more consumer and producer goods, thereby lowering overall prices and increasing the purchasing power of money. The increased value of money will, on the one hand, increase the real value of cash balances and, on the other, make money production more profitable, encouraging money producers to increase their supply to satisfy the demand. The Federal Reserve is not necessary to facilitate this process. We do not need a Fed managed price inflation target, we merely need sound money — money free from government manipulation. Not only is the Fed not necessary to manage the monetary system, but it has also miserably failed the charge it has been given by the Congress. To measure an institution’s effectiveness, we might examine whether it has fulfilled its stated purpose. The amended Federal Reserve Act that is part of the Federal Code, the current law of the land, says that the Fed is mandated to “to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.” How well has the Fed maintained price stability during its almost 110-year tenure? Not well at all. The dollar has lost over 97 percent of its purchasing power since the Fed’s creation. The increase in prices has been especially steep since leaving the last gasp of the international gold standard in 1971, when the only thing controlling money creation became the character and wisdom of the members of the Federal Open Market Committee. It was one thing for the Fed to keep prices relatively stable when it knew that profligacy meant a significant gold drain. Indeed, even that threat proved too weak by August 1971, which prompted Nixon to abandon our obligations by suspending specie payments, cutting the dollar free from gold. Since then, relying only on its own wisdom and character, the Fed has overseen a 675 percent increase in consumer prices. Fed Law-Breaking The main reason for increasingly higher prices is that the Fed has made its peace with breaking the law. How so? Well, despite its legal mandate to promote stable prices, the Federal Reserve explicitly targets a 2 percent rate of annual price increase. Now, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stable as “not changing or fluctuating.” Stable prices mean prices that are increasing at a rate of 0 percent a year. However, the Fed explicitly targets an annual rate of price increase of 2 percent. Price stability has mutated from a policy of 0 percent price increases to an average of 2 percent over time. The Fed, in other words, desires to make the dollar worth less every second of its existence. It is guilty of explicitly and boldly breaking the law, seemingly without political or legal consequences. Now if this legal transgression was merely a matter of technical red-tape, then one might concede no harm, no foul. Alas, make no mistake, people are being significantly harmed and, therefore, the Fed commits foul after foul. It privileges the politically and financially connected rich while keeping the rest of us relatively poor. In fact, Fed-induced inflation explains much of the income inequality exercising many in society. At best, inflationary monetary policy provides no general social benefit. Increasing the money supply does not generally increase wealth for everyone because it does not increase the quantity of producer or consumer goods. It merely increases the amount of money being spent on the same quantity of goods, so overall prices increase, and the purchasing power of the dollar falls. People may have more dollars, but they must pay higher prices. There is, therefore, no general benefit from monetary inflation. The consequences of inflation, however, are much worse than zero. While monetary inflation never provides a general social benefit, it does provide private benefits for those who get the new money first. When the Fed inflates the money supply, it does not increase everyone’s cash balances simultaneously in the same proportion. Rather it injects reserves into commercial and investment banks, and they then lend new money to borrowers. Those people who receive the new money first — financial institutions and the government — get to spend it first before prices change. They benefit while those people who receive it later are harmed. Especially grievous is the lot of those on fixed incomes. They do not see a dime of the new money, but must pay higher prices, nonetheless. As such, monetary inflation redistributes wealth, leaving some richer while many others are made poorer. The Fed cannot plead ignorance to these distributional consequences. They were explained as early as the middle of the 18th century by Richard Cantillon as well as the 20th century economist Ludwig von Mises. (READ MORE: The Fed Has More Than a ‘Credibility’ Problem) Inflation’s harvest of income inequality has been helped along by the shift toward compensating CEOs in stock options. In an unhampered market CEOs will tend to receive compensation commensurate with what they contribute to the value of the firm. If a CEO gains more than his contribution to the firm, the firm will be less profitable. However, much of the new money the Fed creates is quickly poured into the stock market and then asset-backed securities. Therefore, those CEOs compensated with stock options benefit from being closer to the new money. Their compensation packages greatly enhance in value from monetary inflation, resulting in a shift in income distribution. The Fed is more responsible than anyone else for skewing income in favor of crony CEOs. Additionally, the new money is created via artificial credit expansion — loans not funded by voluntary savings — which creates business cycles. Inflationary credit expansion artificially lowers interest rates, spawning capital malinvestment.  Many unwise investments (say, in residential and commercial real estate and financial derivatives) are made to look profitable because of the accessibility of cheap credit, so business activity expands, manifesting itself in an inflationary boom. Bad investments, however, are not made economically sound merely because there is more money in existence. They eventually must be liquidated. The boom resolves itself in a bust whose twin offspring are capital consumption and unemployment. Monetary inflation is no way to sustainably generate economic prosperity. That is why the Fed also fails in its legal mandate to maintain full employment. It turns out that the post-World War II unemployment rate has been wildly erratic. The track record is one of repeated economic cycles which manifest significant unemployment. The clear conclusion is that the Fed is a failure. Sound monetary theory and business cycle theory teaches that the Federal Reserve has failed because it causes massive price inflation, an extreme shrinkage of the purchasing power of the dollar, and the business cycle. In short, the actions of the Fed are both illegal and destructive. Any other monopolistic business enterprise guilty of breaking Federal law and sowing destruction hither and yon would immediately be shut down. What is good for the private goose should be good for the politically privileged gander. No institution is above economic law. Neither should it be above civil law. If members of Congress truly care about the welfare of the citizenry, not to mention their oath of office, they should end the Fed. Shawn Ritenour, Ph.D., is professor of economics at Grove City College. His books include The Mises Reader Unabridged, Foundations of Economics: A Christian View, and The Economics of Prosperity. The post End the Fed: An Illegal and Destructive Enterprise appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

Discover how the US and India are reshaping global tax policies with their groundbreaking digital tax extension agreement! Uncover the reasons behind this pivotal decision and how it could affect tech giants and everyday consumers alike. Dive into the details of the negotiations and learn why this move is causing waves in financial markets worldwide.

Google’s Jigsaw started out as Google Ideas – and Eric Schmidt’s idea back in 2010 was for it to serve as a way of researching “issues at the intersection of technology and geopolitics.”

Julian Assange’s Freedom A Huge Blow To Detractors – “No Physical Harm To Anyone By Leaks”

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from The Salty Cracker:  TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/