Inflation as a Racial Weapon

It is (now) well-documented that Barack Obama was raised to political awareness by various 60s radicals whose core message was addressing the inequities of the races. Since Obama's election to the Presidency, one can only imagine the sort of pressure that has been brought to bear upon him by his clique of socialites, all of whom trace their roots to the 60s counterculture.

The racial composition of Tea party demonstrations around the country can only have sharpened the President's clarity in this regard: Here is a black president, educated in all manner of racial injustice, inequity, and historical intolerance, being personally challenged by hundreds of thousands of middle-class white people. Right or wrong, that must be his impression. And an answer to the centuries-old question of how to reduce the power of the white middle-class has fallen into his lap.

Inflation is a weapon. Wherever it has struck, there is only one real casualty: the middle class. The reasons are simple.

The poor traditionally live from day to day. Whatever money they receive is spent immediately. There are no assets in which the poor invests.

The rich are shielded from inflation by virtue of asset diversity. In fact, the rich often thrive during inflationary periods, picking up failing businesses at a fraction of their true value. By the time the currency is stabilized, the rich are usually that much richer.

The only demographic to suffer irreparably is the middle class. These people use cash as their main tool of investment. They have savings (or used to) and few other tangible non-cash assets. In fact, 401(k) and mutual funds are denominated in dollars and are a prime target for inflation.

In every country that suffered inflation, the middle classes were wiped out. In Germany in 1923, the vast majourity of Burghers were driven into poverty. In Russia in 1921, there was a campaign of deliberate inflation to liquidate the small middle class. In Zimbabwe in 2008, the last of the white land-owners and urban middle-classes voluntarily emigrated after a year of worthless money.

The United States has one of the largest middle classes in the world, and it is primarily white. Therefore, a direct target on the assets and savings of the middle class should necessarily bring the white race in America to its knees.

It is true that most of the rich, upper class are white. However, their numbers are far too small compared to the rest of the population to make a race-based assault on their position worthwhile.

Zimbabwe was a particularly cruel example of racial tensions and inflation. No comparison between that southern African nation and the United States can be convincingly made, but the government of Robert Mugabe "discovered" a way to solve the "white question" without raising the ire of world opinion as he had during 2000's violent white farm seizures.

Others were watching the poverty-stricken Africans of Zimbabwe scrape a living from the gutter, knowing that, although the poor had suffered tremendously, they would bounce back very quickly. And the white middle-class problem would no longer exist.

The question for Americans to ponder is, will President Obama make good on his convictions and "spread the wealth" as he had confided to "Joe the Plumber" a year ago?

Will the President keep the printing presses rolling indefinitely in order to make good on addressing the inequities of race in America?

He is the President of the United States. He must have been told he has the power to find a real solution to America's "white problem."

For, isn't it the white middle-class that has harboured racism? Didn't the white middle-class vocally demonstrate against the first black president when all he suggested doing was extending benefits to the mostly dark-skinned lower class at the expense of an almost entirely white upper class?

In his mind, and the minds of his ageing 60s counter-culture associates, who was acting out racial aggression?

And, who should suffer the consequences of a deliberate inflation policy? For, as we have discovered, the policy will unintentionally lead to the dissolution of the particular racial-economic-social class in question, will it not?

Inflation does not judge by the colour of one's skin. But one class of a particular hue is unavoidably caught between its horns.

[*Orig. posted on ron-paul meetup No. 1358.]