National Inflation Association

In August of 2009, the city of Paterson, New Jersey, proposed the implementation of martial law by imposing an adult curfew at night in an attempt to curb violence. This unprecedented proposed ordinance would have made it illegal for adults to leave their homes and be out in the public in Paterson between the hours of 12AM and 7AM, with a penalty of up to a $2,000 fine and 90 days in jail. This ordinance would have been completely unconstitutional, especially being that it was a non-emergency situation.

NIA actually determined that violence in the city was down that year and trending downward over the previous few years. We thought for sure that there was more to the story than what was being reported by the mainstream media, so we traveled to Paterson City Hall and attempted to interview then-Mayor Joey Torres on camera. The mayor turned down the interview and refused to answer our questions even off camera.

As we left the mayor’s office, we met a city employee who overheard our conversation and introduced us to then-City Council President Jeffery Jones, who agreed to an interview and invited us into his office. Jones explained to us that he is the City Council President and the first time he ever heard of this proposal was from the Associated Press, after Torres already announced it on the steps of the police department saying, “we’re trying to think outside the box” in regards to solving crime issues. Jones expressed disbelief that the mayor would want to lock down an entire city including the people who aren’t committing crimes. He was also surprised that the AP already had a list of the 30 shootings that occurred in the city during the previous year, when this was undisclosed information that even he didn’t have at the time.

Jones was flabbergasted that this ordinance was even being considered since it completely lacked logic. He said that in the past before any other ordinances were publicly announced by the mayor, there would always be a comprehensive discussion about it between local government officials. Not only was there no discussion about it, but Torres hastily added it to the City Council’s agenda for a vote at their very next meeting. Jones was perplexed not just by the total lack of discussion and rush to get it passed, but by the total lack of details in the ordinance regarding the roles of departments, agencies, and the police department’s capacity to do the work. Using common sense, Jones said that if the police department had the capacity to enforce the ordinance, we wouldn’t even be discussing it.

NIA agreed with Jones that if the police department couldn’t prevent the 30 shootings from taking place in the city, there is no way on earth that it will have the ability to enforce an ordinance keeping 146,199 residents in their homes at night. Torres must have known that and must have also known that proposing this ordinance would be career suicide. Therefore, we see no logical explanation as to why Torres would propose this during a time when crime in the city was declining and he was up for reelection the very next year. Even a preschool child with no political experience would focus on taking credit for the reduction in crime, instead of giving the impression that the city has no protection or safety for its residents by proclaiming they must all be locked down.

Paterson is one of the largest recipients of federal funding per capita in the U.S. It makes total sense to NIA if the Federal Government was forcing Torres to propose this ordinance. The government most likely wanted to gauge the public’s reaction and see what type of outrage there would be in response to this proposal. The government wanted to see just how many residents would be willing to so easily give up their freedom and liberty in the name of safety by supporting the ordinance. The government wanted to know how difficult it would be to get the ordinance passed and if it was passed, they wanted to see what it would take to enforce it. A real life trial of martial law in one of the largest cities in the New York metropolitan area would allow the military to be better equipped to handle all types of situations when martial law takes place on a nationwide basis during hyperinflation.

The reason why we believe the ordinance was so vague with no details about enforcement is simple, the police department was never intended to enforce the ordinance. In the event that the ordinance was passed, there would immediately be thousands of brand new criminals breaking the law in Paterson and Torres would have a need to ask the Federal Government to bring in the U.S. military to detain the thousands of criminals who were disobeying the law. The Federal Government would in effect be creating a phony conflict in a city with a high crime rate so that they can justify using the U.S. military at home.

Last year, President Obama signed an Executive Order “Establishment of the Council of Governors”, which Obama claims is an order to strengthen further the “partnership” between the Federal Government and State governments to “protect” our Nation and its people and property. It orders that a council be created of 10 State Governors appointed by the President who will meet to exchange information with the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, and many other government officials related to the military. Their meetings will concern matters involving the National Guard of the various States, homeland defense, civil support, synchronization and integration of State and Federal military activities in the United States; and other matters of mutual interest pertaining to National Guard, homeland defense, and civil support activities.

From our experience, we know that the words “partnership” and “protect” are being used in this order to deceive the public into believing the Executive Order serves some kind of a noble purpose, which to us shows malicious intent behind the creation of the order. “Civil support” in this Executive Order can’t possibly mean anything other than martial law when civil unrest takes place inside of a city. This Executive Order is an attempt to invalidate the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 and make it legal for the military to enforce civilian laws inside of a city like Paterson. You would think that an Executive Order this outrageous and disturbing would have all Americans up in arms, but the mainstream media completely ignored this latest attempt by Obama to transfer power from state and local governments to the Federal Government, and didn’t have one single report about it.

Interestingly, Obama was just in Paterson this past Sunday touring parts of the city damaged by Hurricane Irene with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and newly elected Paterson Mayor Jeffery Jones. (Jones in late-September 2009 rejected the adult curfew ordinance of former-Paterson Mayor Joey Torres and in 2010 ran against him for mayor, defeating him despite being outspent 17 to 1.) Hurricane Irene caused the worst flooding crisis in city history. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for parts of the city, forcing thousands of people out of their homes and hundreds of businesses to close. All across Paterson, store shelves were empty with no food, water, batteries, or flashlights available to purchase anywhere. With most of the main streets and bridges into the city flooded, trucks weren’t able to enter the city to replenish stores with supplies.

As bad as the flooding from Hurricane Irene was for Paterson residents, it is nothing compared to the devastation and destruction that will be caused by a different kind of flooding from Obama and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Obama and Bernanke have been flooding the world with trillions of U.S. dollars with the false belief that because Treasury yields have been falling to record lows, Obama can run trillion dollar budget deficits with Bernanke leaving the Federal Funds Rate near zero forever. Their actions are setting up the next major U.S. financial crisis, which will be massive price inflation that eventually results in hyperinflation and leads to government price controls. The empty store shelves in Paterson from Hurricane Irene are finally being replenished now that flood waters are subsiding. Unfortunately, the empty store shelves that will arise from hyperinflation and government price controls, will be permanent.

The 77-foot high Great Falls and river that was responsible for most of the flooding in Paterson, was previously used for centuries to power dozens of surrounding mills that produced textiles, firearms, and railroad locomotive products. Paterson eventually became one of the world’s largest producing cities of silk, with 50% of U.S. silk production coming from Paterson, and was later named the “Silk City”. Immigrants from all around the world who moved to the U.S., came to Paterson from Ellis Island to get their first job in America at one of Paterson’s many factories.

Today, there are no more silk mills left in Paterson and unemployment in the city is nearly double the national average. With 30% of Paterson residents living below poverty, Paterson is one of the U.S. cities that will be hurt most by the massive monetary inflation of the Federal Reserve. The majority of people in Paterson are relying on government entitlement programs just to survive and don’t have the financial resources to accumulate physical gold and silver.

While in Paterson, Obama pledged Federal Government funding to residents who were devastated by the hurricane. The White House has estimated that the U.S. government’s cost for Hurricane Irene relief will be around $1.5 billion, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) only has $800 million in funds left. FEMA will soon be asking Congress for billions of dollars that our government doesn’t have and the Federal Reserve will be forced to print. By printing the FEMA funds to be provided to people in Paterson, the food stamps, unemployment checks, welfare checks, and other government entitlements that Paterson residents depend on to survive, will all lose their purchasing power, making residents more dependent on government than ever. This is Obama’s strategy to get reelected, promise people more government handouts that instead of helping them, cause the U.S. dollar to lose its purchasing power and make the people as dependent on government as possible.

NIA believes the main reason Obama went to Paterson was to see exactly how residents responded to mandatory evacuations and empty store shelves. He knows that Paterson is a microcosm of what the whole entire U.S. will soon look like during hyperinflation. That is why the Federal Government was so eager to run martial law tests and trials in Paterson. They know that the city is practically on the verge already of having rioting, looting, and civil unrest, before hyperinflation arrives. By providing Paterson with more federal funds, we are sure a secret deal will be worked out that will allow the Federal Government to push through their plans for a martial law trial in Paterson without any resistance from local government officials

NIA believes that the Federal Government has no business providing funds to victims of hurricanes and other natural disasters. There is absolutely nothing in the U.S. Constitution that authorizes it. Most Americans are afraid to speak out against helping victims of natural disasters, but FEMA is a bureaucratic waste that needs to be eliminated in favor of free market solutions. During Hurricane Katrina, thousands of Americans volunteered to help out in disaster relief, but instead of being put straight to work they were told to sit around for hours, which turned into days, and many of them decided to just go home. FEMA spent an outrageous $416,000 per person to provide temporary housing for several hundred Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Alabama. FEMA even paid $800 million to manufacture 11,000 mobile homes to be used as shelter for Hurricane Katrina victims, but they were never used and were left to waste away in Arkansas.

The most shocking FEMA debacle is when they decided to give out thousands of debit cards with $2,000 on them to Hurricane Katrina victims. Many people ended up using these debit cards at strip clubs. A jail escapee convicted of murder was even able to say he was a Hurricane Katrina victim and get a free $2,000 FEMA debit card, which he used to buy beer and drugs, before paying a limo driver to transport him far out of the area. A Red Cross volunteer was convicted and jailed for stealing $250,000 worth of these debit cards and we are sure that others got away with stealing millions of dollars worth of them.

If Americans didn’t have the mindset that FEMA will always be there to rescue them, more Americans would have full insurance coverage on their homes. One Paterson resident who we saw on the nightly news crying about his home being flooded and how he didn’t have money for flood insurance, had an iPhone in his hand. The average annual flood insurance policy costs less than the average annual mobile phone bill. If the cost of insurance to cover flood damages is extraordinarily high in certain areas because the locations are prone to flood, then Americans shouldn’t be living there. Americans who are smart enough not to build a home on the edge of a cliff or next to a river, shouldn’t be forced to pay for incompetent Americans who did. It is the existence of FEMA that encourages Americans to build in risky locations without thinking of the consequences.

Ever since Christie was elected Governor of New Jersey, he has surpassed the expectations we had for him, taking dramatic steps to cut wasteful spending in the state. Unfortunately, he appears to have changed his beliefs due to a Category 1 hurricane. He now doesn’t even think it is necessary for the Federal Government to cut enough spending in parts of the budget to cover its spending on hurricane relief. The fact is, if Christie wants to help residents of New Jersey, he should have reserves set aside to do so on his own. If anybody in government is responsible for helping New Jersey residents hurt by Hurricane Irene, it is Christie himself. Instead of state and local elected representatives putting funds aside for a rainy day, it seems as though their entire purpose is to beg the Federal Government for relief.

NIA expects Sarah Palin to announce her candidacy for the Republican Nomination for President of the United States this month. It was a prediction that NIA originally made in its top 10 predictions for 2011 back in January. We give her credit for helping build $14 billion in state reserves while she was Governor of Alaska, before quitting the job that she was nominated for. If a natural disaster strikes Alaska, they will be able to take care of themselves. Unfortunately, these Alaskans would in effect be punished for their good decisions by being forced to pay for the reckless decisions of other states. Many other states would also have large reserves for a rainy day if it wasn’t for the Federal Government creating a moral hazard by providing funding to state and local governments for disaster relief.

If Alaska was smart they would secede from the union and become their own country. Alaska currently has no state income tax or sales tax, and if Alaskans no longer had to pay federal income tax to support the reckless wasteful spending of U.S. politicians, millions of people from across the U.S. and all around the world would want to move to Alaska. As the U.S. dollar continues to rapidly lose its purchasing power, the likelihood of Alaska and other states moving towards secession will greatly increase. In 2006, an organization collected the required signatures to place on Alaska’s fall ballot an initiative to have Alaska secede from the union, but the State Supreme Court ruled any attempt at secession to be illegal and unconstitutional.

NIA believes that U.S. states have the legal right to secede from the union. U.S. courts have proven time and time again that they will incorrectly interpret the U.S. Constitution in order to protect the government’s destructive illegal actions while selectively ignoring provisions that protect American’s rights. The U.S. is addicted to waging illegal wars against countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and soon to be Syria. The U.S. is also addicted to money printing, in large part to pay for its illegal wars. These dangerous addictions are unconstitutional, because the U.S. Constitution said wars must be approved by Congress and only gold and silver shall be used as legal tender. The act of secession is a very powerful tool that should only be used during times in which the Federal Government’s actions threaten the freedom and liberty of the citizens they swore to protect. Secession is legal and constitutional because without it there is nothing to keep the Federal Government in check and force them to rein in out of control deficit spending that threatens our very existence as a sovereign nation.

It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us.