No. 265: The Moral Implications of Inflation

Good morning, everyone.

I linked out to an essay in Spectator World yesterday titled 'The moral cost of inflation' which, as you'd guess, dives into the moral implications of a culture that accepts inflation as the norm. It's a very thought-provoking read — unfortunately behind a paywall — that's worth a second look.

On inflation's effect on behavior:

But inflation’s most damaging effect may be its debasement of social behavior. Money, after all, is more than a measuring instrument. By providing a mutually-agreed-upon, stable unit of value, money facilitates trust between buyer and seller, lender and borrower. It helps people cooperate in a market economy based on expectations that promises will be fulfilled. Money I’m borrowing from you will be the same value as the money I will use to repay you ten years from now. Stable money promotes the market equivalent of the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

On how inflation mixes up the signal between effort and reward:

Inflation severs the link between effort and reward. Adam Fergusson writes that in Weimar Germany, “as the old virtues of thrift, honesty and hard work lost their appeal, everybody was out to get rich quickly, especially as speculation in currency or shares could palpably yield far greater rewards than labor.” Before World War One, bribery had been almost unheard of. However, by 1924,

There were few in any class of society who were not infected by, or prey to, the pervasive, soul-destroying influence of the constant erosion of capital or earnings and uncertainty about the future. From tax-evasion, food-hoarding, currency speculation, or illegal exchange transactions — all crimes against the State, each of which to a greater or lesser degree became for individuals a matter of survival — it was a short step to breaching one or other of the Ten Commandments.

It shouldn't be surprising that it's during periods of heavy inflation that citizens turn to strongman leaders such as Adolf Hitler or Napoleon.

Onward.

Today, we look at Robby Starbuck's second attempt to get back on the ballot, parse apart the tactics the Western powers use to weaken the Iranian Islamic Republic, and look at who shouts the loudest.

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✺ BACK ON THE BALLOT AGAIN?

Robby Starbuck heads back to court for the second time tomorrow morning in an effort to regain his place on the August Republican primary ballot. The Tennessee 5th district US Congressional candidate hopeful was kicked off the ballot after not qualifying according to Tennessee’s Republican party bona fide standards. Starbuck was kicked off the ballot along with two other Republican 5th district candidates; Trump endorsed Morgan Ortagus and Tennessee local Baxter Lee.

FIRST ATTEMPT DENIED

Starbuck first took his case to court back at the beginning of May where District Court of the Middle District of Tennessee Chief Judge Waverly Crenshaw denied his request for reinstatement on the ballot. Ruling that Mr. Starbuck was not entitled to a preliminary injunction and denying that there was a violation of Starbuck’s first amendment rights, Judge Crenshaw did imply that his decision left the candidate time to file at the state level. That is precisely what Starbuck decided to do.

SECOND LAWSUIT AT STATE LEVEL

On May 20th, Starbuck filed his second lawsuit in pursuit of the 2022 Tennessee election ballot. This time he filed a complaint/petition at the state level against the Tennessee Republican Party and the Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee. Davidson Chancery Court Judge Russell Perkins will be presiding over a hearing tomorrow morning (June 2, 2022) at 9:30 a.m..

STARBUCK CONTINUES TO PURSUE CANDIDACY

Touting his right to the Republican ticket as a true representative of the conservative grassroots movement, Starbuck has continued his pursuit in and out of the courtroom. While fellow disqualified candidate Baxter Lee has quietly moved on, Morgan Ortagus redirected her energy off the ballot and has joined 5th district Congressional candidate Kurt Winstead’s campaign. Instead of finding a new place to put his energy and charisma, Starbuck has continued on the campaign trail.

THE GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT'S TRUE REPRESENTATIVE

In a forum held at Lipscomb University and hosted by USA Today, Robby Starbuck was invited to take the stage among the other qualified 5th district US Congressional candidates due to his pending lawsuits. During the forum Starbuck stood firm on his rejection of “establishment” PAC money and stated that, if elected, he will be a vote for District 5.

Starbuck’s continuous war on the Tennessee Republican Party and his strong sentiments against receiving money from PACs, inside players and outside voices contrasts with his message and actual campaign finance records. Starbuck has received donations from multiple PACs. He also has the most diverse list of donor contributions with donations from people in more than 15 states. Other front-running candidates, like Kurt Winstead and Beth Harwell, have received campaign contributions from mostly Tennesseans. Depending on the outcome of this second lawsuit, we will soon find out if the nature of Robby Starbuck’s last ditch efforts to keep his campaign alive will benefit his platform or poison the seed of his grassroots crusade.

HEADLINES

• Real ID Deadline Set To Be Enforced In Less Than A Year (TCN) If you don’t already have a Real ID driver’s license or a Real ID credential, don’t let the upcoming deadline catch you unawares. Tennesseans, and all Americans 18 and up, have less than a year left to get the new identification card which sports a gold star and enhanced security features that make them more difficult for criminals to fake.
• First permanent supportive housing center in Nashville breaks ground (Channel 5) The center will have five floors and 90 units total with a variety of amenities like accommodations for an on site clinic, office space for caseworkers, laundry rooms on each floor, green space with views of the river and more.
• Tulsa, Montreal and Oklahoma City: BNA adds even more nonstop routes from air-tech startup (Tennessean) Breeze Airways was founded last year in Utah by airline tycoon David Neeleman, a veteran entrepreneur who uses consumer data and technology to offer cheap nonstop regional trips.

POLITICS

• Harwell gets backing from pro-life Susan B. Anthony List (TNJ) Former state House Speaker Beth Harwell of Nashville has landed an endorsement from the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List. Harwell is running for the Republican nomination in the 5th Congressional District.
• Tennessee Moves Closer To Spending Full $3.7B Allocation In Federal ARPA Funds (TCN) The latest proposals for the nearly $300 million in remaining ARPA funds include $58.8 million for three projects including a digital pension system revamp from the Department of Treasury, $32.3 million for a Tennessee State Food and Animal Services Center and $5 million to upgrade equipment and systems at Department of Agriculture labs.
• Nashville to Supreme Court: You blew it on voucher ruling (TNJ) Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s administration is asking the state Supreme Court to review its 3-2 decision upholding Gov. Bill Lee’s signature school voucher law.
• Tennessee's Lee faces deadline to sign state budget, HOPE scholarship expansion bills (Center Square) The bills were sent to Lee on May 23 and he must act on those bills, by signing, returning the bills to become law without his signature, amending or vetoing the bills by the 10-day deadline, which does not count Sundays.

DEVELOPMENT

• Progress on Queens Mixed Use, The 220 Unit Development In Wedgewood-Houston (Now Next)
• Shep's Delicatessen closes, Ole Smoky hosts Shine Fest, Fryce Cream expands (NBJ)
• Track One building sells to local developer for $18.1M (NBJ)
• Start looms on Midtown apartment project (Post)
• Local investor pays $11.22M for coin laundry properties (Post)

⌖ THE POWER OF TELEVISION ⌖

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to be a strong proponent of avoiding any kind of nuclear deal with Iran. In 2018, Netanyahu's testimony arguing against the deal armed then president Trump with enough oompf to pull the US out of the arrangement as he had promised on the campaign trail.

One of the Biden administration's core policy initiatives is to re-engage with Iran and forge a new nuclear deal. In essence, the deal gives Iran permission to advance far enough in the nuclear development process to be approximately one year out from developing nuclear capabilities in exchange for slackened sanctions.

During his 2016 campaign, Trump famously said, "If you take a look at Iran from four, five years ago they were dying. They had sanctions, they were being choked to death and they were dying. They weren't even going to be much of a threat. They didn't have anything going and now they're a power. Overnight, we've made them a power." He then called the nuclear deal "the highest level of incompetence." The slight was directed at Barrack Obama who had heralded the deal in exchange for letting off the sanction gas in a kind of "we're one big, happy family" kind of way.

The argument of Netanyahu, which has subsequently been adopted by the GOP, is that the deal incentivizes the armament of the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism — a POV that's difficult to argue against. Netanyahu and most conservatives firmly believe that any deal made with Iran needs to be contingent on the dismantling of all enrichment capabilities, the dismantling of all intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities, an end to all research on nuclear weaponization, and an end to terrorism and aggression throughout the Middle East and beyond.

The animosity between Iran and Israel goes back decades and is too complicated to parse out here. Suffice it to say that the conflict has a name, the Iran-Israel proxy conflict, a Wikipedia entry, and Iranian leaders' unvarnished declaration that they are seeking to dissolve the country which in their mind is an "imposed regime" on the region's non-Jewish citizens.

Now that we know where Netanyahu stands on this issue, we can dig into why I brought your attention to this issue in the first place.

Way back in 2002, following 9/11 and as tension in the Middle East began to reach a boil, then PM Benjamin Netanyahu called upon the US government to effect regime change in both Iraq and Iran. His proposed method to accomplish this?

Netanyahu told the House Government Reform Committee that the US "could incite a revolution against the conservative Iranian clergy through the use of such Fox Broadcasting staples as 'Melrose Place' and 'Beverly Hills 90210'" — both shows depict a glamorous and liberated American lifestyle. He elaborated, "This is pretty subversive stuff. The kids of Iran would want the nice clothes they see on those shows. They would want the swimming pools and fancy lifestyles."

In 1953, the US/UK tried more direct measures to effect regime change running a color revolution under the name "Operation Ajax" to install a Western-sympathetic Iranian leader. That effort lasted until 1979 when that government was overthrown and replaced by the present Islamic republic. In effect, a liberal revolution in the 50s was made obsolete by a conservative revolution in the 70s. Think what you want about Iran and how the US should deal with them, but there is clearly a lesson here.

Netanyahu — the longest-serving PM in Israel's short history — was a capable, but divisive leader during his time in office. That he suggested using TV to effect a revolution should not be taken lightly. Here we are 20 years later, surrounded by propaganda of a different variety from companies like Disney and Netflix in their attempt to dissuade the more grounded, conservative regions of the country from their "backward" ways. It was inevitable that the "regime change" tactics of the Western powers would come home to roost and be turned on American citizens as the ruling class grew further and further apart from the people they claim to rule.

◢ GRAPH OF THE DAY: WHO SHOUTS THE LOUDEST?

⚔ MISSIVES ⚔

• 🏛 The jury in Democratic attorney Michael Sussmann's false-statement trial returned a verdict of not guilty on Tuesday after a two-week trial.
• 🏛 The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to block Texas’s social-media censorship law that prohibits tech titans from de-platforming users over political expression.
• 🇮🇹 All travelers to Italy will no longer be required to have a valid coronavirus pass as of Wednesday, Italian authorities announced.
• 🇨🇳 China and the U.S. are working to finalize what would be the first face-to-face meeting between their current top defense officials on the sidelines of a conference in Singapore.

THINGS TO DO

View our full event calendar here.

🍺 The Pamphleteer hosts Bar Hours on the last Thursday of every month at Lucky's 3 Star Bar from 6-8 PM. The first ten guests get drinks on the company tab.

🎪 Check out our favorite driving distance festivals this summer. Chattanooga's Riverbend Festival is June 3-5.

👨🏻‍🌾 The Pamphleteer farmer's market guide.

👂 Listen to The Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of the bands featured in this week's calendar.

TONIGHT

🇺🇸 Concealed Carry Permit Course @ Bold Patriot, 6:30p, Free, Info

🎻 Bluegrass Night @ The American Legion Post 82, 7p, Free, Info

🍑 Eat a Peach @ Brooklyn Bowl, 8p, $25+, Info
+ Collection of musicians playing the Allman Brothers album

🍸 Electric relaxation @ Bar Sovereign, 9p, Free, Info

ON THE RADAR

🚨 Eprom @ Eastside Bowl, (6/25), $25.50, Info

🏎 Nascar Ally 400 @ Nashville Superspeedway, (6/24-26) $11+, Info

🏜 Hiatus Kaiyote @ Marathon Music Works, (8/14), $35+, Info

🐂 Professional Bull Riding @ Bridgestone, (8/19-21), $20+ Info

🐖 Roger Waters @ Bridgestone, (8/27), $39, Info

🎹 Stereolab @ Marathon Music Works, (9/6), $35, Info

🎸 My Morning Jacket (9/23) @ Ascend Amphitheater, 7p, $22.88, Info

🎸 Smashing Pumpkins (10/10) @ Bridgestone Arena, 6:30p, $133+, Info

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