The Family is the Basic Economic Unit of Every Economy

Archeologists have uncovered evidence of Pre-historic families of hunter-gatherers merging to become multi-family groups. They needed leaders who were the best at providing food, shelter and safety to the tribe. Tribes always fought other tribes when threatened. These tribes began to migrate from Africa and create settlements in Europe and Asia. They learned to grow food and catch fish and were able to melt medal to create tools and weapons. The end of the Ice Age in 11,000BC accelerated the movement of tribes North. Boat building allowed for more fishing, trade and exploration. Tribes began to grow where water existed and cities formed next to oceans. Tribal leaders became Kings and they made the rules. Kings began to invest in weaponry. Infrastructure and trade. They demanded food and tribute from conquered Kingdoms. Kings had the incentive to raise large armies and take over neighboring countries. 

The Chinese Empire began in 2070BC and ended in 1912.  

The Persion Empire began in 550BC under Cyrus the Great.  It ended in 334BC when Alexander the Great conquered Persia

The Greek Empire began in 800BC. The Greeks took over Kingdoms in Europe, Middle-east and Africa by 323BC when Alexander the Great died.

The Roman Empire began with kings in 625BC. The Roman Republic began in 510 BC  Imperial Rome began in  31BC under Julius Caesar and ended in 476AD.  After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Kings arose in Europe and continued to attack each other.

The British Empire began in 1583 and ended in 1997.

The French Empire began in 1630 and ended in 1977.

The Japanese Empire began in 1868 and ended in 1947.

The Russian Empire began in 1721 and ended in 1917.  Russian history began in 882AD under Prince Oleg.

Each Empire expanded by conquest beyond its ability to sustain itself.  Each Empire failed.

Families remained intact as the basic economic unit.

The Founders recognized the need to enable families to establish wealth to pass on to their children. This was the goal of the Colonists and when it was threatened by England after 1765, they rebelled. Land ownership in the colonies was in jeopardy. They knew that Ireland was impoverish due to the lack of land ownership and they didn’t want to become another Ireland. The Colonists had been free to own land for 200 years thanks to their Colonial Laws that allowed for the election of fellow colonists to represent them in their Colonial governments. The Founders had studied the European Philosophers who correctly identified how governments could allow citizens to prosper and adopted those concepts. They studied democracies and identified their weaknesses. They concluded that excessive government debt had ended these democracies and set up the US government with limited powers.

Families home-schooled their children and insisted that they work doing farm chores from an early age. The result was generations of literate, self-reliant citizens.

Following generations maintained this model where the US was a meritocracy and families could advance and produce family wealth until 1913, when federal income taxes replaced import tariffs and the top income tax rate reached 70%.   President Woodrow Wilson 1913 – 1921. Expanded taxes, created new federal government powers and became the Father of Inflation. In 1913, the cost of a loaf of bread was 2 cents.

Wealthy families had used their wealth to fund expansions of their businesses. We needed this model to expand railroads and oil production in order to expand transportation of goods and move families from 1850 to 1900. 

After taxes rose, wealthy families chose to establish trusts, made huge contributions to charities and the largest companies who were broken up converted their businesses into publicly owned companies. They retained stock in these companies, but were unable to control them.  When they needed cash for their companies they sold Stock and when they needed a large cash infusion they sold Bonds. They adjusted to the “new normal” and survived. 

In 1929, the US Sstock Market crashed and in 1930 US agriculture crashed because of drought. The Great Depression kept unemployment high until 1942, when World War II put all US citizens to work in the Military or work at factories to produce war material.

In 1932, the US government introduced Social Security to force citizens to save for their retirement. But rather than depositing funds into individual accounts, the government chose to treat it as revenue. This allowed the federal government to overspend.  President Franklin D Roosevelt 1933-1945,  Expanded taxes, created new federal government powers and became the next Father of Inflation.

Our parents and grandparents lived through the Great Depression and World War II.

Families remained intact as the basic economic unit.

The US National Debt was

below $5 trillion in 1995 under Clinton

$10 trillion in 2008 under Bush 2 for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

$20 trillion in 2016 under Obama for wind and solar

$26 trillion in 2020 under Trump for military and Covid

$33 trillion in 2023 under Biden for wind and solar

In the US, federal overspending has weakened our economy and needs to be reigned in. We need to return control of the House and Senate to Republicans, close the border, deport the illegals, expand drilling for oil and natural gas and restore our economy. Trump needs to be reelected in 2024 to lead this restoration. Trump proved that war could be replaced by total economic isolation.

Families remain intact as the basic economic unit for many families. We continue to maintain the “family home” to ensure that none of our children, grand children or great grand children are ever homeless and destitute. My grandfather maintained his family home to support 3 disabled sons and I followed his example.  My father-in-law supported a divorced daughter and provided $100,000 inheritance to each of 4 children and I plan on providing this to our children. We support a few who are struggling in this bad economy and believe many other families do the same.

We urge all parents to teach self-reliance to their children to ensure their economic freedom. Children need to know themselves including what they are good at and love to do. This may take time for them to learn about themselves through trial and error. They need the courage to be themselves to discover God’s plan for them.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader