When I began my trucking career in 1994, the pay was in general about $40,000 a year. (There were two years wherein my pay reached $56,000, but I worked 361 days out of 365 days both of those years, so I don't count them in the average.) A run of that pay today on the U. S. Inflation Calculator on the Internet shares that $40,000 is now worth about $25,600 in purchasing power. To make the same purchasing power of $40,000 from 19 years ago requires about $65,000; however, my pay continues to be about $40,000 per annum, decreasing my ability to buy a home, etc. (This decline in purchasing power is the central problem I see in the Wall Street protests of the past couple of years.)
The lion's share of this price inflation comes, I am informed, from monetary inflation or monetary expansion. It is this issue that I am protesting with the central banking system of not only the United States but also the World.
I contend that the state has no moral claim to steal the value of one's labor through monetary inflation/ expansion.
The solution, I suggest, is found in 1) the legalization of alternative currencies, 2) basing national currencies upon a basket of commodities, as is suggested by Benjamin Graham's work (Warren Buffett's famous teacher at Columbia University, years ago) and 3) focussing upon either the abolition of a central banking system around the world or an absolute zero focus for price inflation as it is influenced by central banks.
Gene Chapman, Founder and CEO
Mahatma Gandhi Global Library and Book Exchange
