The Wolfman

Chuck Huntting (Beach Bum Baby Boomer Blog), really got me thinking when he wrote about how if Hemp (with THC) was  legalized, it would not only save our government billions of dollars trying to fight it, it could generate tax revenue if graded and sold in liquor stores.  All Americans don’t gamble but they do agree with the  lottery as a volunteer tax revenue.

Well, here we are and our Government is looking at another round of Quantitative Easing.  I have been thinking, what is the REAL problem?  I feel it is the looming beast of Stagflation.  Stagflation, the hardest economic environment to fight, is a situation in which higher prices cause people to cut back on spending in other areas simply because they have less money to spend elsewhere.  Businesses stop hiring or begin to lay off workers due to the under activity of the Economy.  This is not what the US economy needs right now.  We need Americans to spend money to create Velocity of Money.  We also need the Government to allow that money to be spent in many different areas of society (not just cars and housing).  Autos and houses are the first things people start to buy when they feel better about their situation they are in, in regard to their job and the economy.  Our leaders are trying to fix the problem by putting the cart before the horse.

So how do we do this?  For one, we can’t look at it as a way of trying to create demand in the face of inflation (demand also creates inflation) and we cannot – not have Inflation with the printing of money.  Inflation must be brought down through increased supply to counter QE and no one is going to increase supply if there is a limited demand, or decrease in demand.  This is why Stagflation is so hard to fight and it is lurking.

All commodity prices, like Crude Oil and Corn, are starting to go up due to the printing of money. For the first time ever, more Corn (in the form of ethanol) is being used for supplementing energy than is used to feed livestock.  This is directly effecting prices all the way down the food chain.  The bottom line is, we need to increase the Supply of Energy so that it doesn’t affect every other commodity price.  That isn’t easy with a limited supply of Crude Oil.  Crude Oil  is used in everything from clothes, plastics, manufacturing and autos.  My idea is not a new one but one that really must be considered if we want to save America. HEMP – yes hemp could be used as a medical remedy to save America.  Hemp has many benefits to society (with or without THC) and could truly be the only thing that keeps inflation at bay in our current economic condition.

What I really want to focus on is the following;  Hemp oil (W/O THC) can be used in as many products as Crude oil and would have a less of a damning impact on the environment.  Hemp oil could be used in the making of Biodegradable plastics thus reducing our Crude oil consumption of non-biodegradable plastic.  I think I saw recently, on CNBC, that every year Americans throw away enough Plastic bottles to wrap around the world 4X and they never go away.   Hemp could be used in crop rotation (for corn) as a better substitute to put nutrients back into the ground (than Wheat) without the use of herbicides and pesticides.  I love my microfiber clothes, but they too are made with Crude oil.  These clothes could also be made with Hemp seed oil.  Hemp could also replace trees in many products, like in the making of paper products, and thus stop or limit deforestation.  Hemp oils could also be used for energy in our homes, autos and manufacturing and thus cut our dependency on crude oil and ethanol.  Higher Crude oil prices affect every facet of our economic growth and we need an alternative that will not negatively affect prices in the same way.  Hopium did not and will not work.  That is why we need Hempium!

These are just a few of the ways the byproducts of Hemp could simply increase supply oil and decrease prices of all commodities with a constant (or increase) in demand for energy (oil).  Once we decrease the cost of energy, or make it more affordable, the domino effect throughout our economy will be prevalent in lower prices across the board.  Doing the same thing hasn’t worked, that is why we must think outside the box if we want to start recovering!

Thank you Chuck for this inspiration!

Eric Wilkinson

aka “Wolfman”

@wolfmansblog