Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

March 5, 2009

During a recent segment of CNBC?s ?Fast Money? program, correspondent Dylan Ratigan repeatedly assailed those who have taken their money out of the stock market and invested in precious metals.

Ratigan insisted that ?to be `long? on gold is to be `short? on America.? That is to say, it is supposedly unpatriotic to protect one?s wealth and assets by getting out of a still-overvalued stock market and anticipating the collapse of the dollar.

Paul Krugman of the New York Times has consistently promoted a slightly different version of this accusation, blaming our economic contraction on what he calls a ?savings glut.? The glut originated with thrifty Asian workers and countries who saved what they earned, and it continues today as, in Krugman?s words, ?impoverished consumers have rediscovered the virtues of thrift,? thereby reducing consumer demand.

Only in a society rapidly careening toward the totalitarian abyss is thrift considered unpatriotic.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.