The state’s revenue gap is expected to hit $28 billion over the next 19 months without bold action. The emergency declaration authorizes the governor and lawmakers to change the existing budget within the next 45 days.

Without quick action, the state is likely to run out of cash in February.

Schwarzenegger and Democrats have proposed a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts, but Republican lawmakers are steadfast in their refusal to raise taxes.

Lawmakers failed to reach a compromise during the special session Schwarzenegger declared last month, pushing the problem to a new Legislature that was being sworn in Monday.

The crisis worsens each week, so the Republican governor did not want to waste any time in declaring a special session, said his spokesman, Aaron McLear.

“It’s important that we start on Day One so the new Legislature can start immediately to solve our fiscal crisis,” he said.

There appeared to be little reason to believe that Republican lawmakers would budge on their opposition to tax increase.

“If anything, I think our resolve (against raising taxes) is deeper than it has ever been because of the economic realities,” Senate Minority Leader Dave Cogdill said Monday.

Democrats don’t have the two-thirds majority in either the Assembly or Senate that is required to pass tax increases or a state budget.>>>>Read the Full Article

“At least in Europe, the Socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are upfront about their objectives,” McCain said in a radio address. “They use real numbers and honest language. And we should demand equal candor from Sen. Obama. Raising taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut; it’s just another government giveaway.”

McCain, though, has a health care plan girded with a similar philosophy. He proposes providing individuals with a $5,000 tax credit to buy health insurance. He would pay for his plan, in part, by considering as taxable income the money their employer spends on their health coverage.

McCain leveled his charge before a pair of appearances aimed at restoring his lead in critical battleground states. In both North Carolina and Virginia, where McCain was to speak later in the day, his campaign has surrendered its lead to Obama in various polls. President Bush, a Republican, won both states in 2004.

During a rally outside Charlotte, N.C., McCain returned to the socialism theme, although he did not use the more tart language of his radio address.

He also was sharply critical of the Bush administration, saying it should be more aggressive in buying>>>>Read the Full Story

The reason for the outrage—while Americans have been paying the lion’s share of the bill for Iraqi reconstruction, Iraq has been building up a budget surplus that is projected to reach $80 billion by year’s end. Since 2003 the “United States has put about $48 billion toward reconstruction.” Spending by Iraq for its own reconstruction has been significantly less. Rising oil prices have caused Iraq’s revenues to soar, yet they are spending American taxpayer money to rebuild their nation. “The export of crude oil accounted for 94 percent of Iraq’s revenues from 2005 to 2007, the GAO reported.”

The outrage is understandable. The war and reconstruction have been costly. Despite buzz that the war has been all about oil money, major oil contracts have been handed out almost exclusively to non-American companies. Additionally, Americans were told that this was a cost they would not be responsible for. “Bush administration officials said on the eve of the war that Iraqi oil money would pay for reconstruction.” Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is quoted as telling the House Appropriations committee, “We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.’”

With an already troubled economy, many Americans have questioned covering the cost of the war itself, let alone the costs of rebuilding. Sen. Carl Levin says, “It is inexcusable for U.S. taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for projects the Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves.” And, while I agree that this should not be the duty of the American tax payer, I would say that it is equally inexcusable for us to push Iraqis to use government dollars for projects that should be privately funded. If Iraq is to ever have true freedom (something we don’t even have here), our focus cannot be the amount of money they do or don’t have. Our focus has to be adherence to the principles that form and guarantee freedom.

Key Points

• War and its devastations create a uniquely strenuous circumstance. The needs of the people are magnified as basic utilities, systems, and resources are rendered inoperable. Regardless of circumstance, principle is ignorant of need. God is the author of prosperity and He does not play dice with the universe. Principles govern at all times and in all conditions. When need is used as the basis for policy decisions, principle is discarded and freedom and prosperity will consequently die. It is when needs are greatest that principle must be adhered to if lasting solutions are to be found.
• For example, it would have been much more convenient for our Founders to avoid war with Great Britain and just remain subject to the crown than to stand for that which they knew to be right. Yet, had they chosen any path other than the principled one, we would not be the country we are today with the freedoms we enjoy.
• The Iraqi Government will never be able to stand and protect a free people if it is built on a flawed foundation. There are two major flaws being ignored in this foundation:
  • Encouraging the government of a prospective free nation to be the owner of oil reserves and incomes (or of any “public” property).
  • Establishing the habit of using government incomes to meet the needs of the people.
• Both of these flaws are plays taken straight out of the communist handbook. E.C. Riegel said, “When government undertakes to solve man’s problem for him it undertakes the mastery of society and it cannot be both master and servant.”

Conclusion

It is a difficult thing to perceive that the American Government can help establish a proper framework and set a proper example of freedom when we have strayed so far here at home.

Even if the Founding Fathers had chosen to enter a war like this (which they would not have chosen), they would clearly see the dangerous precedent being set here. While it has long been that oil and its revenues have been the property of the Iraqi government, this practice should be abolished in the process of setting up a free nation. Ownership of oil and its subsequent revenues should be private. James Madison said, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” I have never had to endure the immediate ravages of war and therefore have no concrete understanding of what it would be like. Regardless of the calamities, however, I believe that if I were an Iraqi, my request would be simple: “Let freedom ring, and let it ring completely.”

Action Items

1. Recognize teaching opportunities as you hear others complain that the Iraqi Government isn’t covering the cost of reconstruction. Share how freedom can’t be achieved by creating a socialistic welfare state.
2. Ponder difficult moments of need in your life. Do you stick to principle, regardless of the gravity of the situation?
3. Consider how you offer help to others. Do you teach them to help themselves, or do you create dependence?

MRFC Principles: 1 (1, 3, 13)

Sources

CNN, Iraq’s oil-fueled surplus could hit $80 billion, report says, CNN.com, August 6, 2008

Robert H. Reid, US officials defend Iraqi budget surplus, Associated Press, August 6, 2008

E.C. Riegel, Private Enterprise Money, a Non-Political Money System, 1944 (For more of Riegel’s writings, click here).

James Madison, speaking on the house floor, concerning a $15,000 appropriation for French refugees from San Domingo, 1794.

(Matthew Pilling is a member of the FreeCapitalist movement known as the Canadian Capitalist. Despite his time in the Great White North, Matthew loves America and all that it stands for. He lives with his wife and two children in Taylorsville and works in finance.)

Their goal? “To attract restaurants that serve healthier food.”

Their problem? For whatever reason, restaurants that serve healthier food have not already freely chosen to operate in the area, and the number of fast food restaurants is not likely to be the thing that has kept them away.

Key Points

• After analyzing market conditions and local customer base, many restaurants have decided that it is in their best interest to operate in other areas of town.
• The only real incentive that the government has to attract new business to the area is tax breaks.
• Use of tax breaks to attract a business to an area that doesn’t have the customer base to support it is a recipe for failure. While lower taxes appear to increase profit margins, the increase is synthetic. Without revenues from a loyal customer base that can afford the products offered, there will be no need for tax breaks—there will be nothing to tax. Both the business and the government will be frustrated when the venture doesn’t work.
  Blocking other ‘less desirable’ establishments from opening is an abuse of the city’s power. If the market supports the fast food joints, they should have the freedom to operate as they please, where they please.
• If people really are looking for healthier choices, then the market will support the restaurants that offer those choices. Those businesses should compete based on their merits, rather than on government-given advantages.

Conclusion

Just like some of the left believe that they should keep the price of gas high because it will force people to quit ‘damaging the earth’, the L.A. City Council believes that they can force the people to be healthy by limiting the amount of fast food available to them. This is faulty logic. Dollars follow value. That means that people spend on the things that are important to them. “They should have better things for children,” said Rebeca Torres, a South Los Angeles mother of four. “This fast food really fattens them up.” If the price and convenience of unhealthy fast food has caused people to ignore healthier options (inside or outside of restaurants), then it is unlikely that any amount of government planning will lead them to patronize healthier, government-sponsored restaurants.

When the Nazi’s came to believe that there were problems with certain groups in their society, they began eliminating them. Their impossible goal was the social engineering of a perfect race. While the tactics being used by the City of L.A. are significantly less harsh, they are based in the exact same vein of thinking. With all that is going on in the world today, fast food does seem a low priority. But, the underlying attempt at social engineering is highly disturbing and should be a high priority to any freedom loving capitalist.

Action Items

1. Look at some of the ordinances passed by your city council. Do they generally tend to promote individual freedom or limit it?
2. Pick an ordinance that has been in place for a long time. Does the ordinance really make any difference in the city?
3. Make a list of ways that the community (citizens, not government) could persuade its citizens to effect the same changes without using force.
4. Take a deeper look at your personal relationships. When you want something to change in someone else, do you persuade or try to force?

MRFC Principles: (2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12)

Sources

Christina Hoag, LA blocks new fast-food outlets from poor areas, Associated Press, July 29, 2008.

(Matthew Pilling is a member of the FreeCapitalist movement known as the Canadian Capitalist. Despite his time in the Great White North, Matthew loves America and all that it stands for. He lives with his wife and two children in Taylorsville and works in finance.)

With its low price focus, Wal-Mart may appear to help the U.S. economy. But, the reality is that with its poor wages and benefits, massive China sourcing and tax avoidance, Wal-Mart makes its workers and the communities where it operates poorer.

How is it possible for a company that hands out millions of paychecks every year to be “making its workers and the communities where it operates poorer”? No matter how small the paycheck and benefits are, can you actually become poorer by getting paid? Would even a 10-cent paycheck not make you 10 cents richer than you were before? If you could magically wave your hand and make the Wal-Mart disappear from your neighborhood, would people suddenly start becoming wealthier? Maybe the writer believes that unemployment benefits and other government programs are the key to wealth.

Think about what even a small raise for Wal-Mart’s 1 million+ workers would mean nationally, or what it would mean to your city or town if everyone at your local Wal-Mart got a raise.

What a great idea! Here, the writer, from the perspective of someone outside the relationship between Wal-Mart and its workers, proposes changing the terms of employment for the good of the community. He doesn’t bother to ask how to accomplish it, nor does he consider any consequences other than the presumed benefit to the people as a whole. In this mentality, it is assumed that the costs of such an idea will simply be borne by the wealthy, who have enough already and can afford to give more to everyone else. Presuming a beneficial outcome for “the people” is supposedly justification enough. Readers of Atlas Shrugged will immediately recognize this philosophy, and the consequences of imposing it on the producers of value by force.

As our nation’s largest employer and most financially-successful company, Wal-Mart is a singular American institution. It occupies a unique position in our world by virtue of its size, reach and responsibility for the livelihoods of millions of workers and the needs of billions of consumers. And with such overwhelming influence comes certain moral responsibilities. It is the acceptance or rejection of those responsibilities that determines greatness.

There is both praise and damnation in this statement, acknowledging Wal-Mart’s success while simultaneously using that status as tool of condemnation. These words embody the very morality of the modern socialist mentality. It is a sentiment that views profit as guilt, a burden to be relieved by giving it to others. It is the claim that the degree of one’s success is the degree of one’s indebtedness to others – that it is an indication not of the value one has created, but of a debt owed to society by virtue of its ability to do so. Here, greatness is measured by obedience to “certain moral responsibilities”, which are unnamed, undefinable, and subject to no standard other than the self-loathing of the moocher. No recognition is made of the effort required to succeed, only demands made of the fruits of those efforts – as if such fruits were simply a matter of luck and required better allocation.

Ironically, if a person were to win the lottery, few would claim that the prize should be redistributed to all those who weren’t lucky enough to win (despite the fact that those winnings were created from the pockets of all those who participated freely). But when the prize is earned through value creation and free exchange (from the pockets of the customers of Wal-Mart), many call for the profits to be more “fairly spread”. Such a mentality rewards gambling and penalizes effort, and breeds the idea that the lottery is a fair game where no one wins at the expense of others, while mercantile exchange is a dirty business.

Wal-Mart has rejected those responsibilities and because of that choice, the money spent there does nothing of what it could to strengthen our economy. Higher salaries, quality affordable healthcare and paying what they owe like any good American, are just three things Wal-Mart can do tomorrow that will make them a company worthy of our money.

By ignoring the debate about whether government handouts (taken from the taxpayers or from the printing presses) are even capable of “strengthening our economy”, and proclaiming the presumed evils of Wal-Mart, this writer has successfully avoided any meaningful discourse on how to effectively stimulate any economy. In the process, he has revealed his true agenda: to discourage people from shopping at Wal-Mart due to their failure to adhere to the moral standards of the moochers and looters.

Conclusion:

At the core of this argument is the presumption that if everyone who worked for and shopped at Wal-Mart knew (as the writer claims) the “hidden costs” of doing business with Wal-Mart, they would cease to do so on moral grounds. The fact that millions of people choose freely to accept wages and purchase goods from Wal-Mart is the greatest evidence of the morality of its business, and a far greater indicator than the complaints of this writer. As is usually the case in the socialist mindset, the writer presumes to know better than millions of free individuals how best to use their resources (even their own labor) – and given the power (of government), would likely use force against the villain he condemns, claiming to do so “for the good of the people”. And like every other well-meaning tyrant in history, would ignore the evidence and the freedom of the actions of “the people” for their own sakes.

If Wal-Mart – or any company – is not in the business of creating value for its employees and its customers, it will not be in business very long. Thus Wal-Mart’s success is evidence of the value it has created (Principle 6: Profit is the Tool of Validation). As long as its business does not rely on force or deception in its transactions, whether for wage labor or for cheap laundry soap, there can be no greater statement of the value it provides to each individual and thus, to our economy as a whole, than this confession by the writer:

“…our nation’s largest employer and most financially-successful company”

Action Steps:

• Examine your relationship with the people and companies you do business with – are your dealings with them voluntary, and free of force or deception?
• Write a letter to the editor in your local newspaper in support of those businesses (big or small) that are successful as a result of the value they create for you.
• Research what laws are being proposed in your community (from the city council to the state legislature) that seek to control prices, wages, or other terms of free exchange. Contact your representative and express your opinion.

MRFC Principles: 6 (5,7,8,9)

References:

Why Wal-Mart Does Not Strengthen Our Economy – by David Nassar
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-nassar/why-wal-mart-does-not-str_b_99463.html

Such is the nature of pork-barrel spending, often found in the form of congressional earmarks – “discreet” allocations for funding tacked on to congressional legislation, like parasites hitching a ride on a giant whale. Like all parasites, they seek their own political survival by siphoning off some of the blood of the nation (in the form of dollars collected through taxes) to bestow upon their constituency in return for political favors. The legitimacy of the legislation to which they attach their parasitic mouths is their guarantee that their presence will not be challenged, for fear of impeding the great work of Congress.

In a 1936 Baltimore Evening Sun editorial, H. L. Mencken alluded to this state of affairs when he wrote that American government is “a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.”

Key Points:

• An earmark refers to congressional provisions directing approved funds to be spent on specific projects (or directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated fees).
• Typically, legislators seek to insert earmarks which direct a specified amount of money to a particular organization or project in his/her home state or district.
• Such insertions are generally done with very little, if any transparency, and rarely are legislators held accountable for their actions
• Critics argue the ability to earmark Federal funds should not be part of the legislative appropriations process
• Supporters of earmarks however, feel that elected officials are better able to prioritize funding needs in their own districts and states and that it is more democratic for these officials to make discreet funding decisions than unelected civil servants.
• Congress’ year-end budget passed in December 2007 contains nearly 10,000 Congressional earmarks worth $10.4 billion, according to a comprehensive database compiled by Taxpayers for Common Sense.
• Some states, such as Utah, have rules that require earmarks to be relevant to the bill to which they are attached.

Commentary:

Many politicians have decried the abuse of earmarks (if not their existence), and have called for everything from quotas to moratoriums on the practice. But the common sentiment among politicians seems to be that it’s not any earmark in particular but just that there’s too many that’s the problem. It’s not surprising that such a unprincipled stand has resulted in nothing being done about any earmarks – no one (with the rare exception of Ron Paul) is willing to surrender their sole source of power and influence. Without the ability to hand out loot to the unearned whose claims are based on need, pull, and graft, many congressmen would essentially be out of a job.

Without any consideration of principles and the proper role of government, the debate over earmark spending will never rise above an argument over which earmarks are more well-deserved. When the government gets in the business of competing with the efforts of private citizens and business, the consequences are unavoidable. Businesses who find themselves competing with an entity with limitless pockets and the ability to restrict competition with force either withdraw from the marketplace or join the line of claimants asking for government dollars to fund their efforts. The normal, healthy operation of the free market is distorted by the money being handed out without value given in exchange (only pull and political favor), distorting prices, displacing industry, and creating no incentive for efficiency or accountability.

The private entrepreneur succeeds or fails on the merits of the value he creates in the community. Without the validation of payment received from customers served, he cannot prosper. He must be tireless in service, ruthless in efficiency, and always innovating, or he will not profit, and will eventually go out of business. The government program, subsidy, or bureaucracy, however, receives its funds and carries out its business with no need to consider any fiscal principles – including the validated creation of value through exchange – and survives on the ability of its sponsors to appeal to the collective guilt of the public for another round of budget funding. Such a system is nothing less than a cancer that slowly destroys economic prosperity, as it replaces individual productivity with collective looting as the occupation of choice for an entire generation of citizens.

In this election year, at schools and civic centers across the nation, as citizens voice their grievances to next year’s potential looters, you can witness the parasitic disease in person. Whether it’s concerns about jobs or the need for a new cultural center, the socialist mentality is the same – if only this politician could deliver some much-needed funds from the treasury, then our lives would be better. With money flowing from the federal budget to every corner of the country, it’s not hard to imagine why no one would want to feel left out. It’s the looter’s creed: if it’s there to be had, I’d better get mine before someone else gets it all.

Action Steps:

• Research what legislation is currently being considered, and contact your Congressman to express your opinion on any earmark spending involved (www.house.gov, earmarks.omb.gov)
• Visit the websites of the organizations that advocate transparency and acccountability in government spending (earmarkwatch.org, www.sunlightfoundation.com, www.taxpayer.net)
• Read Frederick Bastiat’s “The Law” – What is meant by the term “legal plunder”? (http://http://www.fee.org/library/books/thelaw.asp)
• Track US Congressional Earmarks Via Google Earth!

MRFC Principles: (9, 10, 11, 12)

References:

Pork Three Ways
http://reason.com/news/show/125689.html

How Congressional Earmarks and Pork-Barrel Spending Undermine State and Local Decision-making
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg1266.cfm

Despite proclamations, earmarks continue
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39574&dcn=todaysnews

‘Pig Book’ names congressional porkers
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/02/pork.spending/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Key Points:

• In 2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation attempting to combat childhood obesity.
• In an effort to comply, Victorville schools have removed all candy from vending machines and replaced it with “healthier items” such as baked chips, granola bars, and juices.
• Some students reportedly fill their backpacks full of candy bars and Twinkies and even energy drinks, bringing to school a veritable convenience store on their backs to sell to fellow students. This has become quite the black market economy for many of the students, some earning upwards of $40 a day.
• Local school principals and teachers report seeing just as much junk food as before.
• The students, if caught selling the candy, are punished with detention and confiscation.
• The solution, according to officials reported in the news article, is for parents to put lunch money on special lunch account cards that can only be redeemed at the school cafeteria, and that way the parents will know their children are getting a healthy meal at school instead of spending lunch money on candy and junk.
• A quick check of physical education scores and a good look at the children reveals that the ban is not working, reported one principal.

Conclusion:

Though it may be smart for individuals not to eat so much candy, pop and junk food, a ban in the schools does not solve the problem. Children can still obtain such items elsewhere and bring them into the halls for sale and personal consumption. Furthermore, this is a microcosm of a greater problem in society where perception determines the action of individuals. Parents seem to have abdicated teaching their children correct principles, perhaps even contributing to the problem of unhealthy eating in their own homes. So, when collective authority exercises dominion in improper places the behavior simply goes underground and the desired results do not manifest. Simply put, the government cannot control eating behavior; it cannot force people to eat more healthy. It is not within the confines of its proper role to do such and should therefore distance itself from such coercive tactics. Rather, it may use its bully pulpit to educate its citizens and help them to gain a better perspective about nutrition, but this is best done without the aid of a gun.

Upon first glance of this article it appeared that the topic would be the favorite behavior of government schools to ban any semblance of capitalist behavior within their walls. However, the article concentrated more on the effects of the ban and subsequent underground behavior on their health and freedom than on the kids actually selling the items to one another.

The instigators of this ban on junk food mean well. They sincerely want the upcoming generation to be healthy and strong. They do not recognize that the techniques they are using are tyrannical and improper. They wish to be obeyed because they know better and it is for the children’s good. They simply do not recognize that they are using force because they do not understand the full ramifications of their own behavior. In this case, if they would learn correct principles themselves, they could then use those principles to guide their children and students in the proper way to behave regarding nutrition. And it could be done without compulsory means.

Action Steps:

1. Review “The Proper Role of Government” by Ezra Taft Benson
2. Since perspective determines action, review proper nutrition principles in a family council meeting with your children. Teach them correct principles and help them to govern themselves.
3. Visit your children’s schools and see if there is a similar ban which has caused underground activity. Discuss with school officials better, more effective ways of accomplishing the desired behavior.

Reference(s):

Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Source: Victorville Daily Press, “Students turn Profit from Candy Sales.”
Author: Rachel Byrd
MRFC Principles: (4, 9, 11)

Key Points:

• Gold struck a record high over the weekend at over $1,015.10 per ounce.
• The US Dollar struck a record low against multiple currencies losing an estimated 2% in value in just one week.
• Fed action like the recent action to “save’ Bear Stearns causes dollar values to drop and commodity values to rise.
• Fed action like lowering the discount rate by 25 basis points causes the value of the dollar to drop.
• The market, not the government sets “real prices” and expresses “real values.”

Summary:

Some people think of the economy as a machine and that the government is its steward. This is a dangerous and naive analogy. The econmy is more like the weather with no stewards over it. Everyone is affected by the economy just like we are all affected by the weather. The economy just like the weather is governed by certain laws or principles. The government cannot change the economy any more than it can change the weather. Oh, there can be slight modifications here and there, and the weather is definitely affected by the actions of humans. However, the weather system is so much larger and influenced by so many factors that it is impossible for one agenda of one person, group or government to control all of these factors so as to predict and control the environment. Besides, even it it were possible (technologically we can conceive of a day when it could be possible to control most variables) it doesn’t make sense. The weather works based upon certain principles so it is always more cost effective and prudent in our preparations to LEARN the principles, LEARN how to predict patterns and results, and ADJUST our behavior (and our plans) accordingly. So, it is with the eoncomy. The economy is “how” people are behaving at any given point in time, and people behave according to what they believe. Importantly, people believe what they do because of perspective. What people see (their perspective) is their experience in life. Their experience in life is governed by principle. So what does this have to do with the Fed, Gold and your savings? Well let me share with you a great quote from Alan Greenspan in 1966.

“In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holdings illegal, as was done in the case of gold. If everyone decided, for example, to convert all his bank deposits to silver or copper or any other good, and thereafter declined to accept checks as payment for goods, bank deposits would lose their purchasing power and government-created bank credit would be worthless as a claim on goods. The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists’ tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the “hidden” confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists’ antagonism toward the gold standard.”

Action Steps:

1. Read Alan Greenspan’s Gold and Economic Freedom (The Objectivist, July 1966)
2. Research Project: Commit to researching why expanding the money supply or easing credit (lowering cost of money) causes inflation. Write your discoveries in a blog or letter to the editor.
3. Research Project: Commit to researching why the Fed offering credit or financial guarantees to a corporation such as Bear Stearns generally causes stock prices to fall and what affect falling stock prices has on the value of the dollar. Write your discoveries in a blog or letter to the editor.
4. Research Project: Commit to researching what the relationship is between the “price” or “value” of the dollar and the “price” or “value” of gold. Write your discoveries in a blog or letter to the editor.

Reference(s):

Date: Monday March 17, 2008
Source: Reuters – Stocks tumble, gold at record after Fed cut
Source: Bloomberg.com – Dollar Doomsayers Draw Signs from Bernanke Rate Cuts
Author: Miranda Maxwell & Bo Nielsen
MRFC Principles: (3, 7, 13)