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Show John S. Hummel TooMuch Money To Spend A letter dated May 1, 1959 says in part: "In cooperation with a national effort to increase the sales of United States Saving Bonds, the month of May has been designated as Savings Bond Month Mon-th . During this month you will be contacted and asked to buy bonds. tr.h s bavings bonas pro viae a guar anteed return of 3 14 if held to maturity. Their purchase provides pro-vides a stablizing influence on the national economy and encourages thrift habits." On the surface it would appear that the purchase of these bonds is a commendable and patriotic gesture, especially in view of the reported difficulty the Treasury Department is experiencing in marketing them. Let us examine the actual results of the program. Statistics tell us that over the past ten years inflation has de- creased the purchasing power of the dollar 4 annually. In order to stay even, your money must be invested at 4. Savings Bonds pay 3 14, a loss of 34 per year in actual purchasing power. For the "benefit" gained, it dev-elopes dev-elopes that the puchaser of United States Savings Bonds has made a very foolish investment. To illustrate this, compare the price of milk and bread ten years ago with today's price. Will the $100 with which the government redeems your bond buy as much of these items today as the $75 you paid for that bond ten years ago would have bought then? Are we really helping our country when we purchase bonds? Let us see what three nationally known figures say. Senator William Jenner, Indiana, in his farewell address to the Senate upon his retirement said, "In the 14 years I have been in the Senate I have learned one thing, the people of The United States are giving their government too much money to spend. J. Bracken Lee on his television program said the government is getting too much money from the people, and so did Secretary Ezra, Taft Benson at the recent LDS Conference. Taxes, hidden and real, take 13 of the average wage earner's income. Most of this money could be classed as extortion payed to the "United States Protective Association", much the same as the "protection" bought, from the Chicago Syndicates in the Roaring 20s. Is it not adding insult to injury to ask people to buy bonds after forceably depriving them of 13 of their income for "protection"? It would appear that the purchase pur-chase of bonds is not only a poor investment, but what is worse, an actual disservice is done to our country. |