Why Gold-Backed Currencies Help Prevent Wars

Executive Summary: "World history proves that there is a close relationship between monetary systems and war and peace. It is also evident that there is a close relationship between monetary systems and ethics and morals."

I will start my talk with an allegation. You have gathered here for a specific reason. You have come because the gold standard was given up in 1914 at the beginning of World War I.

Looking at the program, I see that all of the topics with which we are going to deal are in some way related to that event. World history proves that there is a close relationship between monetary systems and war and peace. It is also evident that there is a close relationship between monetary systems and ethics and morals.

Unfortunately, it is not widely known that the 19th century was a period of prosperity and economic growth without inflation. It strikes us like a fairytale when we discover that in those days the most important currencies were stable over a long period. The French franc, for example, remained solid for one hundred years. It was the era of the gold standard.

The basic rule of the gold standard was a fixed amount of gold for each money, i.e., each money was defined as a specific weight of gold. Paper currencies were redeemable into gold at any time. A nation’s monetary reserves consisted of only gold. On an international level, importing and exporting gold was unrestricted. All balance of payments deficits were settled in gold. (Balance of payments: the sum of all transactions between the homeland and other countries.)

In this way, gold had a disciplining influence on a national economy. It limited public spending. It provided citizens with money that maintained, and even slightly increased, its purchasing power over time and was internationally recognized. If a balance of payments deficit developed, gold automatically transferred out of the country. As a consequence, prices began to decrease. Exports became competitive again and the balance of payments reversed. If a country had a balance of payments surplus, then gold entered the country and the economy was able to expand. Upward revaluations or devaluations were unthinkable. The system maintained its stability automatically. This is one reason why politicians do not like gold. Gold forces them to balance their budget.

The 19th century gold standard, the highest monetary achievement of the civilized world

The gold standard was neither conceived at a monetary conference, nor was it the brainchild of some genius. It was the result of centuries of experience. Great Britain was the architect. At the height of the gold standard at the beginning of the 20th century there were about fifty nations, all of them leading industrial nations, which participated in the gold standard. It was one big clearance community, and it worked.

In his book Währungen am Scheideweg (Managed Money at the Crossroads – The European Experience), Prof. Dr. M. Palyi wrote in 1960:

“For the first time since Rome’s prime did the civilized world succeed in creating a monetary unit. The commercial and financial integration of the world was achieved without the help of a military empire or a dreamy utopia. In theory and in reality, this monetary unit was accepted and recognized as the only rational currency system. Due to the automatic mechanism and the discipline to which the monetary institutions were tied, fluctuations in the exchange rates were very limited if not altogether impossible. This was the incalculable advantage of a gold currency. Trade and industry were able to plan ahead. Especially the automatic mechanism and the ‘rules of decent behavior’ in monetary affairs observed at the time, liberated the value of money from the impact of the governments’ whims. They substantially stabilized it on a worldwide basis. Despite all assurances by the monetary reformers, no reasonably equivalent replacement has been found in the meantime.”

“The gold standard was the world standard of the age of capitalism, increasing welfare, liberty, and democracy […]. In the eyes of the free traders its main eminence was precisely the fact that it was an international standard as required by international trade and the transactions of the international money and capital market. It was the medium of exchange by means of which Western industrialism and Western capital had borne Western civilization into the remotest parts of the earth’s surface […] and creating riches unheard of before. It accompanied the triumphal unprecedented progress of Western liberalism ready to unite all nations into a community of free nations peacefully cooperating with one another. […] The gold standard is certainly not a perfect or ideal standard. There is no such thing as perfection in human things. But nobody is in a position to tell us how something more satisfactory could be put in place of the gold standard.”

The era of the gold standard during the 19th century was the golden age of the white man. During this period, after Napoleon, there were only seven wars of any importance.

My claim is that, had the gold standard been maintained, the warring nations would have had to observe the rules of the gold standard, and, therefore, World War I would have been over in a few months. Because of the automated mechanism and the prevalent “rules of decent behavior,” financing the war on credit in a Keynesian style would not have been possible. Parenthetically, except for Karl Marx, Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt describes Keynes as one of the great destructive forces in world history.

Soon after the onset of World War I, the moment came when the world turned to monetary fraud. Political pressure to finance the war with money created out of nothing made a sane monetary structure futile and led to the ruin of currencies – and a war lasting four years. The world lay in ruins and a young, hopeful generation was lost somewhere on the battlefields.

The collapse of the international monetary system provokes the demise of the old world order

The result of World War I signified the fall of the Old World. Reading Stefan Zweig’s book Die Welt von Gestern (The World of Yesterday), you will be able to see what the world looked like then, and how cruel it is today. As we are in Austria today, we should remember what the Austro-Hungarian Empire represented and denoted how orderly the situation in Western, Central and Eastern Europe was in those days. One of the most senseless things to happen in world history was the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and everything that was connected to it.

Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect world, but cross the Hungarian border from the Burgenland and enter the next bigger city, Körmend, and then you will know what I am talking about. A few years of communist rule has laid the land in ruins. Financing the war is what mainly ruined Germany, then the most thriving country. The Reichsbank financed a large part of its war effort on a short-term basis, i.e., not with long-term War Loans like the British. This fact, in addition to the Versailles Treaty and unreasonable reparation payments, led to hyperinflation, destruction of the middle class and, finally, Hitler. It set the stage for World War II.

The return to the gold standard after World War I was a fait accompli. But it lacked wisdom and power on the part of those in charge. In 1922, at the Conference of Genoa, the gold exchange standard was introduced. Please note that it was not the gold standard that was reestablished, it was the gold exchange standard that was launched. This meant that, apart from gold, national banks could also use dollars and pounds, i.e., the currencies of the triumphant nations, as reserves. Suddenly, dollars and pounds were equivalent to gold. That was inflationary, because dollars and pounds were now accounted for twice: first, in the country where they were issued; and, second, in the country that held them in reserve.

Furthermore, it should have been known that paper-ticket currencies were in no way immune to loss of purchasing power. Therefore, they could not be permanent and generally valid yardsticks. Gold always keeps its value—paper currencies do not. Today, it is generally accepted that increased credit formation was the reason for the uncontrolled speculation in the real estate and stock markets during the 1920s. Their collapse paved the way for the crisis of the 1930s. The same thing can be said for the present stock market crisis. It is also due to immense credit formation over the past twenty years and lack of monetary discipline provided by the gold standard.

When the gold standard was abandoned, central banks were the last barrier to rampant money creation as long as they were able to maintain their independence. However, in the meantime we have learned from bitter experience just how ineffective these so-called keepers of stability were. An excellent example for this is the U.S. Federal Reserve in 1913. This fateful institution was founded even before the war. Since, the dollar has plummeted to about five percent of its former value. Central bank independence was not what it was cut out to be. Central banks became compliant pawns of governments and their constituent banks. In today’s non-system, it is precisely central banks that, in conjunction with banks, make financing of wars of adventure possible by means of unlimited credit formation. There are no brakes anymore.

In his book Jenseits von Angebot und Nachfrage (The Social Crisis of Our Time) economist Wilhelm Röpke said: “One can venture the claim that governments very rarely had complete control over their currency without abusing it.” In today’s age of the welfare state, the probability of such an abuse is greater than ever before.

The world had not learned anything at all. At the close of World War II, it was decided to introduce the gold/dollar standard. A direct result was inflation in the 1970s. Again, notice the subtlety. After World War I, we went from the gold standard to the gold exchange standard with dollars and pounds. After World War II, we proceeded to the gold/dollar standard. The pound had lost its previous stature in the interim, and, next to gold, the dollar remained the only valid reserve currency and, then, only because the dollar was convertible by foreign central banks into gold on demand. It was a sign of the increasing economic power of the U.S.

The structure created in Bretton Woods gave Americans the appalling monopoly to settle their debt with paper-ticket-token money they had printed. Nobody could have resisted such temptation. When this structure collapsed on August 15, 1971, we moved to a system of floating exchange rates. That fully opened the floodgates for creation of money, credit, deficit spending and speculation.

In a speech on August 7, 2002, President George W. Bush said the following: “There is no telling how many wars it will take to secure freedom in the homeland.” With this comment Mr. Bush announced that there might not only be a war against Iraq, but many wars around the globe. He did not define when a war would be considered won or lost. This means that these wars may continue indefinitely. The consequences of these wars are very clear. Trade and investment activities will suffer great damage in such an environment of insecurity.

I will now take a closer look at the question of how the U.S. will be able to pay for these wars. In principle, the U.S. is bankrupt. It has been like that since August 15, 1971. That was the day America escalated its war against gold. Not unlike a banana republic, the U.S. defaulted on its sovereign obligation to redeem dollars for gold as agreed upon in the Bretton Woods system. Theoretically, the U.S. cannot be warring at all, i.e., under the strict discipline of the gold standard it would not be possible.

Because of the nation’s deficit, there would not be any money left to spend on an unproductive and destructive war. The U.S.’s foreign debt is enormous. Until the early 1980s, the U.S. was a creditor nation. Now it is a debtor nation, including a catastrophic balance of trade, which is running up an annual deficit of $450 billion. And still the U.S. is conducting wars, which it is paying for with paper-ticket-token money, which basically is the equivalent of counterfeit. The Americans are creating this funny money themselves – and everybody has accepted it since 1971. Ever since then, and for the first time in history, the world has been living on a system of irredeemable paper-ticket-token money. So we may note that if the world were on a gold standard, the U.S. could not be conducting any wars. Why? Because then they would have to pay for them in gold. Gold, therefore, acts as a braking mechanism. Putting on the brakes has a disciplining effect.

Who, then, actually pays for these wars? The answer is simple. We all do, out of our savings and our promises of future payment, e.g., our pensions! It was no different for Kennedy’s and Johnson’s Vietnam War. We were all footing the bill by eventual world inflation leading to rapid devaluation of our currencies.

Contrary to the 19th century, the 20th century was a century of inflation, hyperinflation, trade and currency wars, waves of speculation, military conflicts, two world wars, hundreds if not thousands of local wars, hundreds of millions dead, annihilation of entire nations, mass migrations, economic ruin, and, finally, the decline of civilization.

Why are there wars? Without a doubt, economic reasons weigh in as the most ponderous in any string of motivations for international conflict that ultimately lead to war. They range from primeval struggles for hunting territories, pastures, salt mines and fertile valleys, to predatory attacks and conquests of the seafaring and trading nations, all the way to modern battles for living space, sales territories and, the most important motivation of all, access to natural resources. Internal political problems also play a major part. Often wars are started to divert attention from problems on the home front. In the Middle East, both aspects are involved: the control over oil resources and the distraction from the disastrous condition of the U.S. financial system. Saddam Hussein is only a pretext.

These wars continue to contribute to the destruction of currencies’ purchasing power. While a gold coin from the times of Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar still shines as it did then, it is the fate of the purchasing power of paper-ticket-token currencies to revert to their cost of production, and that is nil. The Germans can tell the U.S. a thing or two about that. A total loss after World War I, another total loss after World War II, and finally admission to the European currency system, the Euro. All that happened within less than one hundred years.

Not only is there a correlation between gold currencies and war, but also between gold currencies and freedom. U.S. Federal Reserve Board of Governors Chairman Alan Greenspan wrote a well-known essay “Gold and Economic Freedom” in 1966 attesting to this. He recently confirmed that he believes this essay is applicable today.

Once we remember that one of the first official acts transacted by Lenin, Mussolini and Hitler (and, by the way, also by Franklin D. Roosevelt) was to forbid possession of gold, we recognize the context. Even today the price of gold is manipulated and kept artificially low. Wall Street bankers and their helpers have been at it for quite some time. In the U.S. a lawsuit was filed. I cannot say more about this at the moment, but it should serve as an impulse to reflect on the present situation. These manipulations are described in my recently published book The Gold Wars: The Battle Against Sound Money As Seen From A Swiss Perspective.

All we have today is paper-ticket-token money. It is equivalent to counterfeit money. It does not offer a citizen any security. He cannot save enough money. If he does save, most of it is lost. The situation is worst for recipients of wages and pensioners. In the end he is forced into the arms of the (welfare) government, and he effectively loses his freedom. Politicians will mostly resist the reinstallation of gold-as-money. Röpke was right when he wrote in his book Internationale Ordnung - heute (International Order and Economic Integration): “Depoliticizing money was never as vital as in the era of modern democracy.”

Today, when “Humanity is at a Crossroad,” as the topic of the conference characterizes the worldwide political situation, we want to address academic faculties. We want to know what they can contribute to finding a way out of this and to prevent an unimaginable escalation of suffering. As a banker, I implore you to put the gold standard back on the agenda. The people understand it intuitively. The gold standard would be my guild’s aid to bridle the power frenzy of the mighty.

Paper-ticket-token or funny money is like a drug addiction. It takes more and more of the drug to satisfy the addiction. Collapse is the final result. There is no indication today that this experiment with the equivalent of counterfeit money will end any better than earlier, similar experiments. Due to the U.S.’s economic power, paper-ticket-token money has already lasted longer than one might expect. Allow me to conclude with a quotation from a speech given in Washington D.C. in 1948 by Congressman Howard Buffett from Nebraska, father of the most successful investor of all times, Warren Buffett. The address was entitled “Human Freedom Rests on Gold Redeemable Money”:

“Our finances will never be brought into order until Congress is compelled to do so. Making our money redeemable in gold will create this compulsion. […] The paper money disease has been a pleasant habit thus far and will not be dropped voluntarily any more than a dope user will without a struggle give up narcotics. But in each case the end of the road is not a desirable prospect.[…] I can find no evidence to support a hope that our fiat paper money venture will fare better ultimately than such experiments in other lands. Because of our economic strength the paper money disease here may take many years to run its course. […] But we can be approaching the critical stage. When that day arrives our political leaders will probably find that foreign war and ruthless regimentation is the cunning alternative to domestic strive. That was the way out for the paper-money economy of Hitler and others. […] I warn you that politicians of both parties will oppose the restoration of gold. […] Also those elements here and abroad who are getting rich from the continued American inflation will oppose a return to sound money. […] But, unless you are willing to surrender your children and your country to galloping inflation, war and slavery, then this cause demands your support. For if human liberty is to survive in America, we must win the battle to restore honest money. […] There is no more important challenge facing U.S. than this issue – the restoration of your freedom to secure gold in exchange for the fruits of your labors.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, these are the subtle relationships between freedom, money, intellect, war, peace and gold. Thank you very much.

Ferdinand Lips is the author of The Gold Wars: The Battle Against Sound Money As Seen From A Swiss Perspective.

(I wrote this a number of years ago when things were NOT going well with the economy. Trust me: They WILL get ugly once again as man -- or certain men -- cannot resist playing God. We continue to violate the universal, immutable laws of economics at our great peril.)

Despite the apparent economic strength of the American economy, history proves that EVERY house of cards eventually comes down. And the higher the card house, the harder the fall when it finally comes. And when it does, the more freedoms we will voluntarily surrender to "restore order." It was the Founders' concern about this historically valid problem which prompted their attempt -- now ignored -- to keep American "money" sound and honest.) Dick Bachert 1998

Oh yeah, almost forgot: File this under “Who Gives a Damn!”

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The Forgotten History of Money

This is the fascinating story of the efforts by certain of the Founding Fathers to prevent the economic distress we find all about us today. It is also a sad story on the basis that modern, "sophisticated" Americans have abandoned the corrective institutional mechanism that remains in place to this day. As you read it, think about a world with many fewer S&L, banking and political scandals and economic problems now considered the norm.

"Blood running in the streets. Mobs of rioters and demonstrators threatening banks and legislatures. Looting of shop and home. Strikes and unemployment. Trade and distribution paralyzed. Shortages of food. Bankruptcies everywhere. Court dockets overloaded. Kidnappings for heavy ransom. Sexual perversion, drunkenness, lawlessness rampant. The wheels of government are clogged, and we are descending into the vale of confusion and darkness. No day was ever more clouded than the present. We are fast verging on anarchy and confusion. (George Washington in a 1786 letter to James Madison, describing the effects of fiat paper money inflation then ravaging America in the pre-Constitutional period.)

"The annihilation (of the paper money) was so complete that barber-shops were papered in jest with the bills; and sailors, on returning from cruises, being paid off in bundles of this worthless money, had suits made of it, and with characteristic lightheartedness, turned their loss into frolic by parading through the streets in decayed finery which in its better days had passed for thousands of dollars." (Contemporary writer, Breck, 1786)

"Paper money polluted the equity of our laws, turned them into engines of oppression, corrupted the justice of our public administration, destroyed the fortunes of thousands who had confidence in it, enervated the trade and husbandry, and the manufactures of our country, and went far to destroy the morality of out people." (Peletiah Webster, 1786)

At the drafting of the U.S.Constitution, there were many "Friends of Paper Money" present. On August 16, 1787, when the discussion arose on Article 1, Section 8, the proposed wording was this: "The Legislature of the United States shall have the power to...coin money...and emit bills of credit of the United States."

A hot argument ensued on the power to emit bills of credit, which is another way of saying "printing paper money".

Here are the actual words James Madison wrote describing the debate in his diary: "Mr.G.Morris moved to strike out *and emit bills of credit.* If the United States had credit, such bills would be unnecessary; if they had not, unjust and useless.

MADISON: Will it not be sufficient to prohibit the making them a tender? This will remove the temptation to emit them with unjust views. And promissory notes in that shape may in some emergencies be best.

MORRIS: Striking out the words will leave room still for notes of a responsible minister which will do the good without the mischief. The monied interest will oppose the plan of the Government, if paper emissions be not prohibited.

COL.MASON: Though he had a mortal hatred to paper money, yet as he could not foresee all emergencies, we was unwilling to tie the hands of the Legislature [Legislature = Congress].

MR.MERCER:(A friend to paper money) It was impolitic...to excite the opposition of all those who were friends to paper money.

MR. ELSEWORTH thought this was a favorable moment to shut and bar the door against paper money. The mischiefs of the various experiments which had been made, were now fresh in the public mind and had excited the disgust of all the respectable part of America. By withholding the power from the new Government, more friends of influence would be gained to it than by almost anything else...Give the Government credit, and other will offer. The power may do harm, never good.

MR.WILSON: It will have a most salutary influence on the credit of the United States to remove the possibility of paper money. This expedient can never succeed whilst its mischiefs are remembered, and as long as it can be resorted to, it will be a bar to other resources. MR.READ thought the words, if not struck out, would be as alarming as the mark of the Beast in Revelation.

MR.LANGDON had rather reject the whole plan than retain the three words *and emit bills*".

The motion for striking out carried.

Historian George Bancroft later wrote: "James Madison left his testimony that *the pretext for a paper currency, and particularly for making the bills a tender, either for public or private debts, was cut off.* This is the interpretation of the clause, made at the time of its adoption by all the statesmen of that age, not open to dispute because too clear for argument, and never disputed so long as any one man who took part in framing the constitution remained alive."

ROGER SHERMAN(1721-1793)should be a name familiar to every American. As familiar as Washington, Madison, Jefferson and Adams. He is the only man to have signed all 4 documents surrounding the formation of the United States of America: The Continental Association of 1772, The Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation and The United States Constitution. He was a Judge of the Superior Court in New Haven, Connecticut, serving that office with distinction from 1766 until 1788. He served as Treasurer of Yale University from 1765 to 1776. He was renouned for his high intelligence and unswerving honesty and was described by John Adams "as honest as an angel and as firm in the cause of American independence as Mount Atlas." He served in the U.S.Senate from 1791 until his death in 1793.

Why is Roger Sherman*s name unfamiliar? HE WAS AN ENEMY OF PAPER MONEY!! In 1751, Roger Sherman and his brother William sued James Battle for paying a debt to their shop in New Milford, Connecticut, in depreciating paper currency. Over a period of 15 months, Battle had charged "divers wares and merchandizes" amounting to 129 pounds of what Sherman assumed were pounds of Connecticut "Old Tenor", a stable currency whose value were well-preserved by taxation taking it out of circulation. But Battle assumed the debt was denominated in pounds of ever-depreciating Rhode Island currency, tendered in same, and the Shermans took a beating in the payment and sued for recovery of loss by depreciation. The Shermans lost when Battle argued that he was merely following the accepted custom of the day. In 1752, Sherman wrote his book "A Caveat Against Injustice or An Inquiry into the Evils of a Fluctuating Medium of Exchange" indicting UNBACKED PAPER MONEY.

It was this experience that Sherman brought to the Constitutional Convention and prompted him to rise on August 28,1787 and propose new, more restrictive wording to Article 1,Section 10. The standing version under consideration was worded this way: "No state shall coin money; nor grant letters of marque and reprisal; nor enter into any Treaty, alliance, or confederation; nor grant any title of Nobility." (From Madison’s Notes of the Convention) "Judge Sherman and Mr. Wilson moved to insert the words *coin money* the words *nor emit bills of credit, nor make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts* making these prohibitions absolute, instead of making the measures allowable with the consent of the Legislature of the U.S. Mr. Sherman thought this a FAVORABLE CRISIS FOR CRUSHING PAPER MONEY. If the consent of the Legislature could authorize emissions of it, the friends of paper money would make every exertion to get into the Legislature in order to license it." Mr. Sherman*s and Mr. Wilson*s motion was quickly agreed to and became the supreme law of the land.

Some additional quotations to ponder:

"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in the constitution or confederation, nor from a want of honor or virtue so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation" (John Adams in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1787)

"I deny the power of the general government to making paper money, or anything else, a legal tender." (Thomas Jefferson)

"You have been doubtless been informed, from time to time, of the happy progress of our affairs. The principal difficulties seem in great measure to have been surmounted. Our revenues have been considerably more productive than it was imagined they would be. I mention this to show the spirit of enterprise that prevails." (George Washington in a letter to the Marquis de LaFayette, June 3, 1790 AFTER the United States Constitution prohibited unbacked paper money at Article 1, Section 10)

"Since the federal constitution has removed all danger of our having a paper tender, our trade is advanced fifty percent. Our monied people can trust their cash abroad, and have brought their coin into circulation." (December 16, 1789 edition of The Pennsylvania Gazette)

"Our country, my dear sir, is fast progressing in its political importance and social happiness." (George Washington in a letter to the Marquis de LaFayette, March 19, 1791)

"The United States enjoys a sense of prosperity and tranquility under the new government that could hardly have been hoped for." (George Washington in a letter to Catherine Macaulay Graham, July 19,1791)

"Tranquility reigns among the people with that disposition towards the general government which is likely to preserve it. Our public credit stands on that high ground which three years ago would have been considered as a species of madness to have foretold." (George Washington in a letter to David Humphreys, July 20, 1791)

"It is apparent from the whole context of the Constitution as well as the times which gave birth to it, that it was the purpose of the Convention to establish a currency consisting of the precious metals. These were adopted by a permanent rule excluding the use of a perishable medium of exchange, such as certain agricultural commodities recognized by the statutes of some States as tender for debts, or the still more pernicious expedient of PAPER CURRENCY." (Andrew Jackson, 8th Annual Message to Congress, December 5, 1836)

DESPITE WHAT YOU WERE TAUGHT IN SCHOOL, THE HISTORICAL RECORD IS CRYSTAL CLEAR: AMERICA WAS TO HAVE BEEN SPARED THE DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS OF AN UNBACKED PAPER MONEY SYSTEM. MOST OF THE PROBLEMS WE FACE TODAY CAN BE TRACED TO WHAT ANDREW JACKSON CALLED "THE PERNICIOUS EXPEDIENT OF PAPER MONEY".

HISTORY TEACHES THAT AN "ARTIFICIAL" MONEY CREATES AN "ARTIFICIAL" WORLD WHERE THE PRICE FOR SOME ITEM...EVEN OUR MOST POPULAR WELFARE "PROGRAM"...CAN BE DEFERRED TO FUTURE GENERATIONS (OUR $11 TRILLION NATIONAL DEBT) OR PAID WITH A "MONEY" CREATED OUT OF THIN AIR WHICH ROBS THE VALUE FROM THE MONEY WE MIGHT BE UNFORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE IN OUR POCKETS AT THAT MOMENT (INFLATION). AND ONE THING YOU MUST REMEMBER ABOUT INFLATION IS THAT IT IS NOT AN "EQUAL OPPORTUNITY" DESTROYER: THOSE FIRST IN LINE TO GET THEIR HANDS ON THE NEW MONEY ROLLING OFF THE PRESSES (THE MODERN FRIENDS OF PAPER MONEY) HAVE A CHANCE TO SPEND IT BEFORE IT LOSES ITS VALUE. THE LITTLE PEOPLE (THAT’S US, FOLKS!) FARTHEST DOWN THE LINE ARE THE ONES WHO FEEL THE FULLEST EFFECTS OF THIS DESTRUCTIVE PROCESS.

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