Is There an Imminent Threat of Inflation?

Concerns exist that government spending is reaching unsustainable levels. The Covid lockdowns, which have played havoc with the economy, along with the election to near dominance of the Democrat Party, with its strongly progressive orientation (and wanton fiscal irresponsibility), will lead to spiraling of federal debt, which already exceeds $23 Trillion. The only possible to way to pay for all this spending is by having the Federal Reserve buy Treasury bonds. This is tantamount to "printing" money --- although nowadays the money is not actually printed, but is created electronically. 

Supposedly 35 cents of every dollar spent in 2020 by the federal government was "printed." This has frightened some hard money advocates into predicting high inflation in the coming years. While these expectations are certainly reasonable, this doesn't mean they'll necessarily prove accurate. There is a tendency for critics of easy money policies to over-predict inflation. The Federal Reserve has actually engaged in quite a bit of easy money  (i.e., inflationary) policies over the last three decades without serious (at least in terms appearances) inflation. There are three reasons for this, which I will briefly discuss.

Psychological Causes of "Wokism"

Jordan Peterson, in a recent podcast interview with Paul Rossi, wondered aloud about the causes of “wokeness”: “I keep trying to figure it out, because I’ve been concerned about this for a long time and still can’t get to the bottom of it,” mused Dr. Peterson. “I know there’s a resentment element to it, but I can’t understand exactly what’s driving this, and why it’s … making the headway ... [it is].”

If even Jordan Peterson can’t figure out wokeness, that should be an indication of what a choke-pear this issue really is. Nonetheless, I would suggest that Dr. Peterson has at least the beginnings of an answer well at hand, but has for some unaccountable reason been unable to connect the necessary dots. For hasn’t Dr. Peterson noted on at least several occasions that the best measurable predictor of political ideology (or belief) is personality? And didn’t one of Dr. Peterson’s own students, Christine Andary-Brophy, submit a masters thesis related to this issue? From such sources one can at least form initial conjectures on what might be the underlying motivations behind the horrors of wokism. By adding a few other insights drawn from this place or that, I suspect we can begin to develop an intuitive sense of what these motivations might be—or at the very least draw up the very first outlines for a research program into this difficult issue.

Now I have already introduced most of the following proposed conjectures relating to the causes of “wokeness” in my short book The Psychopathology of the Radical Left. So in this blog post I will be merely restating some of the material introduced in that modest tome.

American Generals and Admirals Issue Their Own Letter

Since my last post about the letter to Macron from French Generals warning of a possible civil war if the ruling elite in France didn’t get their act together, there’s been a second letter, this one from anonymous soldiers serving in the ranks, which backs the Generals’ letter. It’s not known how significant this second letter might be. Does it indicate widespread support in the army for the first letter? Or is it simply a handful of malcontents voicing their discontent? Given, however, that 58% of the French population supports the positions advanced in the first letter, I don’t think we’d be going out on a limb to suggest that at least 58% of the military shares the views and sentiments expressed in that letter as well. 

On the heels of these letters from the French military warning of the dire condition of their country, a letter was published by retired American Generals and Admirals warning about the rise of the radical left in America and questioning Biden’s fitness for office. The American mainstream press, which consists largely of the Ruling Elite's chronic lickspittles, has claimed (among other dubious assertions) that the letter advances conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being “stolen.” This is not a strictly honest (what else is new?). The authors of the letter of course make no such allegations. You’ll find nothing in the missive about Dominion’s voting machines or the alleged large “dumps'' of pro-Biden ballots in the wee hours of the morning. Instead, the letter merely questions the integrity of the election process itself—which is not a conspiracy theory, but simply a call for preventive measures against corruption in the voting process (e.g., voting ID and promptly investigating irregularities, etc.). While there’s no evidence that the 2020 election was “stolen,” there is evidence (or at least allegations) of possible irregularities which were never properly investigated. While these irregularities, assuming they existed, would not have affected the ultimate outcome of the election, if they actually occurred (which is at least possible) they still constitute something of a scandal, and efforts should be made to prevent them from happening in the future. Election irregularities raise the spectre that our election is not entirely fair, which can seriously undermine the whole raison d’etre of Democracy. We have democratic elections not to determine the will of “the people” (there is no such singular “will of the people,” but multiple wills, many of which are in conflict), but to figure out how to come to collective decisions necessary for the preservation of the social order. Democracy is a game we play because the alternative (rule of the strongest) can lead to dangerous levels of tyranny and violence. But the democratic game must be played fairly, with all parties observing the agreed upon rules (i.e., following the Constitution). Winning is less important than following these rules because there are greater issues at stake than always getting one's way. If one side insists on gaining an advantage through cheating, at some point the other side is going to lose interest in playing; and that’s when a threat of a civil war or a coup or a breakdown in civil society becomes very real.  

French Generals' Letter to Macron

A few weeks ago witnessed the publication, in the French periodical Valeurs Actuelles, of a rather extraordinary letter. It was addressed to the members of the French government and signed by 1,000 service personnel of the French military, including 25 retired generals.  Here is the letter in full, as translated by the Irish website TheBurkean:

Mr. President,

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Government,

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Parliament,

This is a serious time, France is in peril, several mortal dangers threaten her. We who, even after retirement, remain soldiers of France cannot in the present circumstances remain indifferent to the fate of our beautiful country.

Our tricolour flags are not just a piece of cloth, they symbolise the tradition of those who, whatever their skin colour or creed, have served France through the ages and given their lives for her. On these flags we find in gold letters the words “Honneur et Patrie“. Now, our honour today lies in denouncing the disintegration that is affecting our country.

A disintegration which, through a certain anti-racism, has only one aim: to create on our soil a malaise and even a hatred between communities. Today, some speak of racialism, nativism and decolonial theories, but through these terms it is the racial war that these hateful and fanatical supporters want. They despise our country, its traditions, its culture, and want to see it dissolve by tearing away its past and its history. Thus they criticise, via the biases of statues, former military and civilian glories, analysing words many centuries old.

A disintegration which, together with Islamism and the hordes of the banlieue, is leading to the detachment of many parts of the nation, to transform them into territories subject to dogmas which are contrary to our constitution. However, for every Frenchman, whatever his belief or non-belief, all of France must be his home; there cannot and must not be any town or district where the laws of the Republic do not apply.

A disintegration because hatred takes precedence over fraternity, as it does in demonstrations where power uses the forces of order as auxiliary agents and scapegoats, against those French in yellow vests who are expressing their despair. Meanwhile hooded individuals infiltrate and ransack businesses, threatening these same forces of order. However, the latter are only applying the directives, which are sometimes contradictory, and are given by you, the rulers.

The dangers are growing, the violence is increasing day by day. Who would have predicted ten years ago that a teacher would one day be decapitated outside his school? We, the servants of the Nation, who have always been ready to put our skin in the game — as our military status demanded — cannot be passive spectators of such actions.

It is therefore imperative that those who lead our country find the courage to eradicate these dangers. To do this, it is often enough to apply without weakness the laws that already exist. Do not forget that, like us, a large majority of our fellow citizens are fed up with your wavering and your guilty silences.

As Cardinal Mercier, Primate of Belgium, said: “When prudence is everywhere, courage is nowhere.” So, ladies and gentlemen, enough procrastination, the hour is serious, the work is colossal; do not waste time and know that we are ready to support those policies which take into consideration the safeguarding of the nation.

On the other hand, if nothing is done, laxity will continue to spread inexorably in society, in the end causing an explosion and the intervention of our active comrades on the national territory, in a perilous mission to protect our civilisational values and safeguard our compatriots.

We see that it is no longer time to procrastinate, otherwise tomorrow this growing chaos will be put to an end by civil war, and the deaths, for which you will be responsible, will be counted in thousands.