Our Threatened Freedom

Is Civil Government Costing Us Too Much? (04:02)

R.J. Rushdoony

Transcript: 

R.J. Rushdoony: 00:01 Is civil government costing us too much? This is R.J. Rushdoony with a report on our threatened freedom. During 1980, the total cost to us for federal, state, and local units of civil government was close to one trillion dollars. A non-profit tax foundation estimated it to be $926.7 billion. This means, as U.S. News and World Report stated it, “A cost to each American household of $11,715.” If you had wondered why your income is not going too far these days, these figures give you the reason. Of course, not all of that $11,715 came out of your income in direct taxation, but you are paying for it in one way or another. Some of that money was the result of federal, state, or local borrowings, which you will pay for eventually.

R.J. Rushdoony: 01:05 Moreover, it is a mistake to assume that much of these tax funds came from taxes on corporations and businesses. The people pay all taxes. Any tax on gasoline, an automobile, a refrigerator, or anything else is simply added to the price of the merchandise. It is passed on to us. A manufacturer’s total profits are something like 3 to 5%. They cannot afford to pay the taxes, so they pass it on to us. The result is inflation. Inflation is a made in Washington product. It is popular with politicians to blame inflation on capital, and labor, or on the people, but it is a federally created product.

R.J. Rushdoony: 01:52 In fact, almost the only thing the various national governments of the world do well these days is to create inflation, a highly undesirable product. Various economists will give us differing estimates on the inflation rate. In 1980, it went from 12 to 16%, is often cited. In 1981, one economist believes the rate will be 18 to 25%. Once you have a salary income, or increase to match the rate of inflation you are in trouble. In fact, most of us are in trouble because of federally created inflation.

R.J. Rushdoony: 02:38 Inflation erodes confidence in civil government. It creates social unrest and decay. Inflation increases federal powers, and limits our freedom. In virtually every area of life inflation exercises a very deadly influence. Inflation can almost be compared to a terminal disease. The cure for inflation is a moral as well as an economic one. Inflation is a form of legalized larceny. When people have larceny in their hearts they are ready to legalize it. When we as a people begin with a soak the rich demand, we soon want a soak the middle class politics, and finally soak the poor and everybody program. The result is the triumph of the politics of envy, and of inflation.

R.J. Rushdoony: 03:28 There is a relationship between sound money and social morality. Today we have neither. We cannot have the one without the other. We cannot have a sound morality, which asks others to pay the price for our moral concerns. Morality begins at home in our own lives, not in demands on others. The greatest price we are paying for inflation is a moral price. This has been R.J. Rushdoony with a report on our threatened freedom.