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HomeShop at BookSurgeFictionMovie or Television Tie-InThe Ultimate Scam: They Have Stolen Your Pants, But You Smile As You Hand Them Your Coat And Tie |
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 A must read for everyone with a savings account. Feb 26, 2010
By OT Therapist
Very intrigued with William Turners observation and analysis of how and where our hard earned savings are being spent by our government.... but most of all, how it is legal and that we allow it to happen. This is an easy read for the average person and a wake-up call for all Americans. Everyone that has a savings account needs to read this book. Bravo Bill!!
 The ongoing inflation "steals" purchasing power from our wealth. Nov 09, 2009
By Anton Glaser
Book Review - The Ultimate Scam by William R. Turner
Reviewed by Anton Glaser, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics of PSU.
Mr. Turner, born in 1911, knows that the dollar has been shrinking in value (buying power) during his lifetime. A cart of groceries that cost $4.00 in 1911 cost $100 on his 98th birthday. He also knows it was not always thus. The period from 1850-1911 enjoyed a dollar that kept its value, or even increased it.
"I sit in a corner and cry," said a Swiss citizen, when inflation first appeared in his country. There is reason to cry, when your country is hit by inflation. It's tantamount to having your pants stolen. When you stand passively by and don't stop those who are causing it, it is tantamount to giving them your coat and tie also. It's a scam, the Ultimate Scam, Turner feels.
Inflation is the continuing rise in the general price level. The country having too much money in circulation causes it. Turner thinks the Federal Reserve Bank, whose job it is to regulate our money supply, is especially to blame. So is another set of government officials -- officials that overspend. Unfortunately the "scam" is legal.
During Turner's first 98 years, the price level increased about 20-fold, indicating an annual inflation rate of about 3.2%. Turner gave special attention to the following four periods.
1. 1911-1929: the price of a loaf of bread doubled during those 18 years indicating an approximate 4% annual inflation rate, as Turner correctly calculated. When other consumer items were averaged in, the rate is 3.25%.
2. 1940-1955: prices doubled in a mere 15 years, indicating a 4.73% annual inflation rate.
3. 1970-1980: prices doubled in a mere 10 years, indicating a 7.18% annual inflation rate.
4. 1993-2000: This period, Turner pointed out, brought us a 17% debasement of the dollar. He should have mentioned that this translates into a mere 2.5% annual inflation rate for this period, the lowest inflation rate among the four, and certainly lower than that 98-year average of 3.2%.
However, even a low rate of inflation has its insidious consequences. Turner pours out his heart and soul to tell this story. He is quite competent to do so. After a 30-year stint as a scientist doing research on petroleum products, while also being an investor and student of financial markets, he served 23 years as a stock exchange member.
Your reviewer was born in October of 1924 in Germany. My parents had married in 1923 and had to cope with the hyperinflation of that country. My mother would go to my father's place of work, pick up his pay-envelope at noon and proceed to spend it within the hour, to avoid paying much higher prices the following day.
What happened to savings in Germany? The substantial savings my mother had brought to the marriage were still recorded in her bankbook, but they couldn't even buy a loaf of bread -- that's how much the currency had lost in buying power.
The debasement (shrinking buying power) of the American dollar has not been that bad -- but bad enough over a decade or two to nullify any return on your savings -- sometimes even to eat away at the original principal -- especially when the effect of taxes are figured in. Not as bad as in Germany in the 1920s, when the debasement also ate up the entire principal, not in decades but in just a few years.
The basic thrust in Turner's book is: the dollar has been shrinking in buying power -- our public policies are to blame -- we citizen should let our representatives know we are watching how they are spending our taxes and how they borrow money. We want them to pay cash to fund any new projects, even if that requires new taxes.
In 1980 I was upset about inflation and even lead seminars on the topic, but I slipped into complacency after that. Reading Turner's book and "doing the math" to review it, convinced me that being a mere observer of events is not enough -- I must try to influence public policy -- at the very least, by giving my representatives in government an earful. I applaud Mr. Turner for his dedication in writing this book.
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