Rising Prices and a Falling Dollar
by Jacob G. Hornberger

It seems that the mainstream media might finally be coming to realize that the soaring prices of commodities is not so much due to reduced supplies or increases in demand but instead to the enormous fall in the value of the dollar.

In an article in Sunday’s New York Times entitled “A Peek Behind the Price at the Pump,” Nelson D. Schwartz hit the nail on the head when he wrote, “But even as the presidential candidates debate whether to cut federal taxes this summer and legislators look at other ways to ease prices at the pump, a harder-to-control factor is emerging as a main reason behind the increase in energy costs: the sinking dollar.”

Welcome to Empire 101: What They Don’t Teach You in High School Civics and College Economics.

Since items sold in the United States [and elsewhere around the world] are priced in dollars, the price must inevitably reflect supply and demand for both the item and the currency.

If the value of a currency goes down because of an increase in supply of the currency or a decrease in demand for the currency, the only way that can be reflected is through an increase in the price of things that the currency buys.

As most every American should know by now, ever since 9/11 the dollar has been cratering in international markets. What many Americans are just now discovering, however, is that that phenomenon is a direct result of out-of-control federal spending, the type of spending that has characterized the federal government for the last seven years. Do the imperial adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan come to mind?

Unfortunately, many in the mainstream press still don’t get it. For example, in an editorial yesterday the New York Times, the same paper that published the Schwartz piece, lamented the high financial costs of Iraq and Afghanistan, especially medical costs for soldiers.

So, does the Times call for an immediate withdrawal from these imperial adventures? No. Instead, it declares:“Fortunately, the solutions are clear — more money for mental health services....”

As Americans are now discovering, empires are not cheap. As people continue to pay ever-increasing prices at the pump, in the grocery store, and elsewhere, it’s important that we keep the reason in mind: out-of-control spending by federal officials. Such spending not only pays for ever-rising welfare at home, and not only for such wasteful and destructive things as the war on drugs, but it also pays for deadly and expensive imperial projects abroad.

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