Money, Politics & Occupy Tea

Governments cannot create but merely redirect.

When the government spends,
the money has to come from somewhere.

If the government doesn't have a surplus,
then it must come from taxes.

If taxes don't go up,
then it must come from increased borrowing.

If lenders won't lend,
then it must come from the printing press...

each additional dollar printed
diminishes the value of those already in circulation.

Something cannot be effortlessly created from nothing.

Peter Schiff

Can artificial stability destabilize?

If a nation prints more money,
like cutting a large pizza into 16 slices instead of 8,
is each slice worth less?

What if the pizza shrinks while the number of slices rise?

When national debts
have once been accumulated to a certain degree,

[there has never been] a single instance
of their having been fairly and completely paid.

The liberation of the public revenue
...has always been brought about by bankruptcy,

though frequently by a pretended payment [through inflation].

Adam Smith

Moral philosopher and Father of Modern Economics