Why is the cost of my Bill of Material (BOM) so much higher than last week? The Orwellian doublespeak answer: Quantitative Easing

Have you noticed that price of all of your components, for your Embedded Systems, have been on what seems to be an exponential rise of late?

Alas only about one in a thousand realize that the price of the parts has not gone up, but the value of money has gone down. At my favorite site for Frugal Living tips, (living within ones means, rather than spending more than you have) had a good introduction to inflation by Rick Kahler:

"A country has four tools to retire its debt: raise taxes, cut spending, declare bankruptcy, or debase the currency through inflation.

Of these options, bankruptcy is the most unpalatable. It would most likely mean the country goes through a gut-wrenching depression and is unable to borrow for the foreseeable future.

Almost as unpalatable to politicians are spending cuts of any kind. Taking away something the electorate views as a "right" or an "entitlement" is akin to ending your political career.

Raising taxes is somewhat more appealing, especially in countries where the majority of the voters don't pay taxes or the increases apply primarily to those the electorate perceives as "the rich." The risk here is that if taxes increase too much it reduces the incentive to work and the whole economy crashes. This means gross tax revenues fall, which in the end actually increases the country's debt problem as the government must increase borrowing to keep from making any spending cuts.

That leaves inflation. A slow, chronic inflation is the most politically palatable way of reducing the debt in a manner that is somewhat unnoticeable to the electorate."...

The Federal Reserve uses the term, in Orwellian doublespeak, Quantitative Easing when they speak of inflation.

Over at SIGTRAP, the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, we find the official definition of Quantitative Easing:

Quantitative Easing: Monetary policy used occasionally in which the Government increases the money supply by buying Government or other securities from the market. Quantitative Easing aims to increase the money supply by flooding financial institutions with reserves in an effort to promote lending and liquidity. Such actions are conducted through OMOs [See Open Market Operations].

You can read the official reasoning behind making us spend more 'money' to build our products here: Aiding the Economy: What the Fed Did and Why. Then you can read why this is a bad idea here:

"This month, the Federal Reserve announced another round of quantitative easing, through which the central bank will print an additional $600 billion to purchase U.S. Treasury securities. Congressman Culberson has serious concerns that the Federal Reserve will not be able to withdraw this monetary injection before the dollar's value is critically eroded and commodity prices skyrocket."

--- Another Round of Quantitative Easing by Congressman John Culberson.

It comes down to The Man is printing more money, driving down the value of each dollar, to make the stock and commodity markets look attractive to investors, and to force people and companies to borrow 'money'. You see the whole fiat monetary system is based on debt. If there is no borrowers to create debt then the system implodes.

The best place to start learning about how 'They' have sold us out in order to further 'Their' own greed is to watch the historical, three and half hour long non-fiction, documentary The Money Masters :

"The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control...

The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..."

The next item requires a trip to your local Library for the book The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve by G. Edward Griffin.

Request it via Inter-Library Loan if they don't have it on the shelf.

Now with that education under your belt, we turn our attention to a speech given before the National Economists Club in Washington, D.C. on November 21, 2002 by Ben S. Bernanke :

"What has this got to do with monetary policy? Like gold , U.S. dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. By increasing the number of U.S. dollars in circulation, or even by credibly threatening to do so, the U.S. government can also reduce the value of a dollar in terms of goods and services, which is equivalent to raising the prices in dollars of those goods and services. We conclude that, under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation." - Ben S. Bernanke current chairmen of the Federal Reserve .

So we can see that as long as eight+ years ago it was already in the planing stages for 'Them' to put the screws to you and I!

Riddle me this Batman when was the last time the Federal Reserve was independently audited? H.R.1207 Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 tries to force the Fed to be audited, so we find out where all of that interest on our national debt actually goes! Get your congressman or congresswomen to support it in the next Congress.

Someone that does explain what is really going on today is Bob Chapman's site The International Forecaster , that is updated a couple of times a week.

What can you and I do?

• Live a frugal life style by reading The Dollar Stretcher weekly news letter on frugal live tips.
• Get over your spending addictions , nothing that you buy externally will make you feel better internally.
• Get yourself out of all debt, Dave Ramsey's site is a good place to start. You will never be free as long as you owe 'Them' interest.
• Stock up on non-perishable food, and learn what you can eat in your environment like Edible Weeds . I've never understood why people have it in for Dandelions , they might be your next meal, or wine, someday.
• Get out an vote! Get rid of all of the incumbents that have gotten us to this point, of us vs 'Them', rather than them representing us. Forget this party crap, when was they last time 'They' invited you to one of their parties?? Remember that the Founding Fathers tried, and unfortunately failed, to prevent the party system because of what they saw happening in their day between the "Wigs" and "Hats", the Republocrats and Demipubs of their day. When exactly did our elected Representatives become our leaders???
• Lastly stock up on ammo... Soap Box -> Ballot Box -> Ammo Box...

For a couple of closing thoughts find out What Will Hyperinflation in the U.S. Look Like?, and historically these financial problems end with a significant war, which International Monetary Fund director Dominique Strauss-Kahn agrees:

"The [banking/financial] crisis will push millions into poverty and unemployment, risking social unrest and even war, and urgent action is required, Dominique Strauss-Kahn IMF Managing Director said."

Now that you are totally depressed watch this hilarious video: Pain at the Pump, and enjoy life while being thankful for what you have today.