About the Nothing Store

As Obama and crew print and borrow more and more money, the U.S. dollar faces an uncertain future.

But three cheers for our Unmighty Dollars -- print as many as you like. They're already worth Nothing, so they can't go down in value.

Comments? Email The Nothing Store team!

The Nothing Store issues new currency weekly.


Counterfeiting Instructions:

Click on a denomination above, print the bills, cut them out, and stuff in an envelope. Send to your congressman or senator marked as a CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION. They'll get the message! For the address of your congressman, click here for senators and here for representatives.






To North Korea, With Love


North Korea is "not moving toward a free-market economy, but will further strengthen the principle and order of social economic management." --Statement by an official of the North Korean central bank.

January 10, 2010. The Washington Post reported last week that North Korean leaders have cracked down on the nation's spreading free markets, causing widespread food shortages and inflation.

Big boss Kim Sung Il has become angry about "the kudzu-like spread of grass roots capitalism," as the Post put it, and has de-valued the currency.

"Besides penalizing traders, an apparent goal of the currency revaluation was to slow inflation, which has plagued North Korea for years. But the government's action appears to have backfired, with potentially disastrous consequences in a country that is chronically short of food," the Post said.

Uh, oh, sounds eerily like one possible future for the U.S.. Have they been talking to Ben Bernanke? Barney Frank? Obama?

But take heart, this is not really bad news. We believe that every person and every country has a purpose, and the current purpose of North Korea is to serve as a living laboratory of "social economic management."

If we didn't have little prison-camp countries like to North Korea to demonstrate the incompetence and evil of government control, we would have academics and politicians dreaming up these kind of utopian experiments and salivating at the chance to impose this stuff on the rest of us.

I know, I know, we already have plenty of these spaced-out professors and starry-eyed politicians, but it would be much worse if we didn't have some clear real-world results of these experiments to serve as examples.

We can't let North Korea go under. And not just for humanitarian reasons. We need their example. We need to continue to give them just enough food and energy aid to keep their heads above water, in the same way Congress uses welfare to ensure a continuing pool of poor people.

Yes, little state-run countries like North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela have a vital role to play in world affairs. They're not really big enough to be a military threat like the old Soviet Union, but they can be studied to glean valuable lessons in what not to do.

Wouldn't it be great if we could require politicians to pay a visit to North Korea before they passed any major legislation? Disaster Tourism, so to speak, with all expenses paid as usual. "How's that food stamp program working out for you, Dear Leader Kim?" Sen. Boxer asks at a state dinner. "Oh, and ...please pass the caviar."

"And how about health care, Brother Kim? Any trouble from the restless masses when they see that you government elites get the gold-plated plans? Not that you don't deserve it, of course. After all, just like in the U.S., somebody has to stay healthy to be able to tell the masses what's good for them. But those pesky tea-party types; they can cause problems you know. We can't just haul them off to the camps like you do. ...A little more of that fine champagne, if you please."

Yes, it's hats off to North Korea, as well as Cuba and Venezuela. They're Little Classrooms. Long may they live.



Investing in gold Investing in silver investing in commodities home solar power new tech economy future jobs protect your savings fuel efficiency survival foods learn computing cheap land