Daily Dispatch: Free Fall – Mar 12, 2010

March 12, 2010 | www.CaseyResearch.com Free Fall Dear Reader, Our own Bud Conrad has a standard retort when presented with a testable economic hypothesis, “Let’s see what the data says!” Along those lines, for no particular reason, this morning I found myself on the website of the St. Louis Fed, which is always good trolling ground for data – albeit data that first goes through a government filter. The first chart that caught my eye was this, showing the history of surpluses and deficits in these United States. A couple of things are noteworthy, starting with how, until about 1970, the deficit picture remained largely unchanged. But then, in the 1970s, things started to go wobbly. Could it have been Nixon’s closing of the gold window and the advent of a pure fiat system in 1971 that is the culprit? Sure seems that way to me. Regardless, if today’s free fall in government finances, especiall...