Whidbey News-Times cartoonist Priggee’s finger pointing cartoon pointed out a common dilemma. It is hard for anyone to understand the problems created from government increasing the money supply at 20 percent, with no added backing of the dollar.

Kennedy was possibly assassinated because he tried to tie our fiat currency to silver, as the Constitution mandates, by issuing silver certificates. Nixon took us off the gold standard forever. Reagan drove us deep into debt for the first time. Clinton issued an executive order letting bankers speculate with the money we trusted to them. Bush II has allowed the credit companies to go after secured assets, and raise the interest rate to 31 percent for any reason, even being late on a utility bill.

George and the Fed have also been giving away $20 to $40 billion away to the big dogs for weeks and selling off Fort Knox, just to keep some semblance of solvency. We are caught in a bind, not of our own making, but of quiet deals and criminal acts from those in power.

What to do? Keep, or get, solvent. At least don’t buy frivolous items with credit. Put in stores of dry goods and fuel. Watch over your neighbor. Stay humble, not extravagant, and resist the temptation to rely on the government.

You can point to the poor farmer, or grocer, or distributer. But the real culprit is inflation of the money supply by Bush and the feds. Paper without gold backing will eventually be worth paper, no matter how pretty it is. No wonder Bush and Cheney are busily putting their assets into other countries. One more note, we couldn’t have financed war on the gold standard.

Scott Vanderlinden

Oak Harbor