Repeat This Message Weekly, Until it Sinks In. "Taxes Don't Fund Fiat."

Commentary by Roger Erickson

Introducing Peasant's Logic Concerto, a Political Movement in Three Parts.

Question #1: How many times, and how often, do you have to restate the obvious, to each generation?
Answer #1: Until the message is even heard by - then actually sinks in for - a just-adequate proportion of the electorate.

Question #2: Do fiat taxes fund anything in fiat currency systems? (Seriously, we need to ask? Ok. Fine. Proceed.)
Answer: #2: Consult a dictionary, look up the word "fiat." Then actually think.

Question #3: Do USA FICA taxes "pay" for Social Security benefits?
Answer: #3a: (see answer 2, above; apply critical thinking; if still confused, proceed to answer 3b)
Answer: #3b: FICA taxes are - functionally - completely irrelevant to Social Security benefits. Rather, they represent pure politics.

Seriously folks, in countries using a fiat currency system, fiat taxes fund neither DoD or SocSec, nor any other public policy. "Fiat" is a dimensionless, dynamic metric used in agile management of static assets.  In the USA, what part of fiat do we choose, by fiat, to NOT understand - since 1933? A "fiat" currency system - by definition, means that we issue currency as needed, then just stay between the tolerance limits of deflation vs inflation. A deficit in fiat is semantic nonsense, used only by politicians and lobbyists to confuse themselves as well as a carelessly thinking electorate.

Don't agree to behave like one of PT Barnum's marks. Be a citizen. Demand that people and politics can't prosper simply by under-estimating your intelligence. Our economy deserves more than circus work for clowns. Adequate amounts of daily thinking is good for our nation's cultural health.