No. 27 10/26/15
A review of the news recently brings one face to face with the struggles going on in our national government. On the one hand, the majority Republican party in the House is desperately trying to come up with a new speaker to replace ousted John Boehner, a victim himself of the massive struggle going on between the Freedom Caucus, a group of about 40 members who are determined to hold the line on spending, and the more established group who seem willing to go along with things the way they are.
National polls consistently show that the average American wants government to get a grip on spending, to deal with the waste and duplication which adds billions to our debt each year, and to bring some sense into the invasion of our southern border by illegal immigrants. The so-called Freedom Caucus has pledged to see these goals passed, even if it means a failure to raise the debt limit to keep the government operating.
Oh, yeh! The debt limit! For decades now, government expenditures force an annual need to cut spending back significantly on the one hand, or authorize borrowing more money to finance programs as desired. Modern progressives, convinced that Keynes was right, and that the government and its central bank are responsible for the overall state of the economy, willingly look to added debt as the fuel needed to keep everything healthy and growing. So they, unfazed by the size of our current debt, will push hard for raising the legal limit so that the spending can go on unchallenged. Obviously, history testifies that the "borrow more and spend more" officials in government have had their way, as the debt limit is raised and the debt has gone up year after year for decades.
But an alternate theory of economics is well worth considering. Ludwig von Mises, the recognized genius economist associated with the Austrian school of Economics, sees the issue differently. In a huge volume called HUMAN ACTION, he developed a theory, arguing convincingly that government and big bank involvement in an economy should be kept at a minimum, and that the natural laws of economics can be counted on to effectively regulate an economy over the long run. Instead of relying on the Keynesian solution of money injection to off set periods of decline, von Mises argues that the rise and fall of economies is a natural thing, and tends to be self correcting over time.
A simple little formula can be gleaned from the Austrian school thinking: MV = PO. A closer look at this equation will be taken next week, but for now it is enough to note that the M stands for the amount of money in circulation, the V for velocity which remains fairly stable, the P for the price level of all goods, and the O for the output of all goods and services. With Walmart and other big companies closing stores and laying off help, and with earnings reports of big companies coming in lower than anticipated, the O or the output of our production system is not increasing and may well even be decreasing.
The conclusion: That the huge increases in M associated with our ever increasing debt will necessarily be reflected in similar increases in P on the right side of the equation.
In von Mises' own words: "An increase in the quantity of money will not enrich the world. Expansion of credit does lead to a boom at first (witness the stock market!),... but sooner or later this boom is bound to crash and bring about a new depression." He later goes on to say, "There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion." (To be concluded next week)
Jake Wren 

To the Editor
At the end of Joan Kopczynski's letter to the Editor regarding Jake Wren's "worn our rant about abortion", she asks, "which is really the problem here?".  Well Joan, since you ask, you and the likes of you are.  If  the only way one can "rant" about murder is if it is committed in his backyard, that is a ridiculous premise.  Most of what Jake "rants" about in the Redneck Review does not occur in Cottonwood as it is a supportive, loving, caring and a God fearing community.   But that doesn't mean that we can't witness His Holy Word and talk about the wrongs happening throughout the world.  Taking a human life is just plain wrong and a sin against God and mankind.  Those perpetrators will be held accountable at judgment day.  My prayer is that they see the light and repent before meeting their Maker.  
Keep on ranting, Jake.  We need to hear and think about what is going on in the world, and to resist the bad and support the good.
Norm Schnider
Post Falls and Cottonwood

Dear editor, 
I am writing about Joan Kopczynski's letter to the editor. She wrote about how Cottonwood citizens do not have to worry about abortion, but did have to worry about suicide issues. This is not completely true. Yes, we should worry about suicide issues, but we also need to worry about abortion. In her article, she said that the amount of people who had died of abortion "is close to zero." She also said that suicidal deaths "is not zero." Is there actually a difference between these two phrases? Cottonwood citizens do not have to go far to get to an abortion clinic, even if there isn't actually one in Cottonwood. Joan concludes her article by asking the question "Which is really the problem here?" I say that both are a problem. If we do not state our opinions in little bitty Cottonwood Idaho, we will never be able to state our opinions in the great big world. 
David Wassmuth
Summit Academy-8th Grade

Dear Editor,
Would you allow abortion? No. This is the involuntary answer of the people of the prairie. The question that needs to be asked is will we fight for life? The prairie is for life, but does the world know that?  Does the United States know?  Does even the state of Idaho know that life is important to us?  The world needs to stand for life.  The fight starts small. The fight starts in small, unknown places. The fight starts here.
Jessie Sonnen
Summit Academy-8th grade 

To the Editor,
The quiet reality of abortion within our communities is made no less significant when compared to the public tragedy of suicide.
It is a smoke and mirrors attempt to mischaracterize and distract us from the realities that surround our communities, our states and our nation when it comes to protecting the most innocent of human life. 
Suicide is a tragedy that affects our communities and shatters lives. Tragically 31,390 people annually take their own lives every year in the United States and no community is immune from this misfortune.
Like no community is immune from the sad reality that is suicide, they also are not immune from the tragedy that is abortion. Abortion is the quiet killer that is not made public and it also shatters lives. 
The sorrowful realities are that over 1,095,000 children are aborted every year in the United States and the death of the unborn child is the start of another misfortune, the depression that often follows for the mother. 
In one study of 600,000 women who became pregnant, those who had abortions were six times more likely to commit suicide than women who carried their pregnancies to term. 
Abortion in our communities is a reality, just ask the volunteers at the Hope Pregnancy Centers in Grangeville and Kamiah. 
Jake Wren is right to point out the calamity that befalls our nation and the injustice we perpetuate on the most vulnerable within our society. 
Abortion is America’s Holocaust.
Thank you,
Jim Chmelik

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