These past few months have been tough on Dead Presidents. Activists whose understanding of American history is roughly that of a French Poodle, have been tearing down statues of George Washington, US Grant and even the Great Emancipator, Abe Lincoln. In New York, Teddy Roosevelt’s perch outside the Museum of Natural History in New York is now history. TR’s been hauled off to storage, lest some nitwits give the Rough Rider a spray painting or knock him off his bronze stallion.
Forgotten, if it was ever learned by these thugs, is that George Washington got the freedom ball rolling, Lincoln ended slavery, a brave endeavor that arguably cost him his life, with the help of Ulysses S Grant, the Union General who delivered victory in this nations bloodiest war, Then there was Roosevelt, an environmentalist and consumer protection advocate who battled corporate greed and worked to save the planet before anyone knew it needed saving.
Even as they treat American History, The Constitution and The Founding Fathers, much like a baby treats a diaper, one old white dude seems to have gotten a pass. Maybe that’s because Benjamin Franklin is in serious demand. There are a lot of Benjamin’s flying around these days. Since the Pandemic hit the U-S 16 months ago, state, and local governments have sending truckloads of Benjamins around they’re writing checks or moving gobs of money around electronically, but with his countenance on the 100-dollar bill, the largest commonly accepted paper currency, the old kite flier is the accepted symbol of big money. With his job on the line Gavin Newsom is hoping Benjamins in quantity will buy the votes of Californians when a bank balance topped off with fresh Benjamins brings on a case of political amnesia. Joe Biden’s using the inverted benny strategy, that’s when you spend so many Benjamins, on liberal gimmicks, the nation goes into debt, inflation grows as personal supply of Benjamins gets eroded at the gas station, the grocery store and everywhere else.
There are about 16 billion dollars’ worth of Benjamins in circulation, and 10 million Benjamins are in a billion. Criminals moved a lot of them around, with that EDD scam sending 10 billion dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims, much of which we’re told got funneled to gangs, black market gun dealers and of course jewelry stores and luxury car dealers.
The irony here is that if asked Ben Franklin probably would have liked his face on the penny since he preached frugality and negotiated favorable financial deals for the fledgling new nation,
Someday soon, a Benjamin may not be worth more than the paper it’s printed on, but for now, nobody’s messing with Ben Franklin, in fact most people just can’t get enough of him.