Document:1974 Position Paper on Inflation by Tuccille for Governor
| THIS DOCUMENT IN OTHER FORMATS |
Jerome Tuccille put out a series of position papers during his 1974 run for Governor of New York.
Inflation is nothing new or mysterious. Throughout history, governments have supported themselves by debasing the currency. In the old days they "clipped" coins; now they turn the printing press. The method varies, but the cause of inflation is the same: government producing money for itself to spend, whether by making ten gold coins into eleven, or by making paper and ink into dollar bills. The more dollars there are, the less they are worth. When dollars are worth less, goods cost more dollars.
The strategy used by government to deal with inflation is also nothing new. It consists of finding someone, anyone (other than the government), on whom the inflation can be blamed. Our present government may, however, have set a record with the number and diversity of its scapegoats. It has blamed impartially business and labor, greedy sellers and spendthrift buyers, and anyone else it can think of, while serenely turning the printing press at an average of ten to fifteen percent a year.
There is, unfortunately, little governor of New York can do to stop the process, beyond asking the members of New York's Congressional delegation to ask the Federal Reserve System and the Treasury Department to shut down the presses. But there is something the Free Libertarian Party can do and is doing. That something is to make it clear to the voters that inflation is not something that happens to a government, but something that a governmnet chooses to do.
Committee For 50,000 Votes Dolores Grande, Treasurer 15 W. 38th Street, Room 201 N.Y., N.Y. 10018 Tel. 221-3464