Have a little trouble and you soon find out who your friends are. Yes, our financial system is a mess. Witless politicians have been tinkering with it for decades, manipulating it for their personal political benefit. It was inevitable that it would nearly collapse.

For years, little ol’ me opined on the unsoundness of our nation’s currency and the economy based on it.

They weren’t listening then. They’re not listening now.

It all comes down to the currency because if the currency were not fraudulent, the investment bankers could not have pulled off their scam.

So what are we going to do about it? We are going to compound the problem by throwing colossal sums of "money" at it. I put money in quotes because our money isn’t real. Don’t feel too bad about that. There isn’t a currency in the world today that is real.

Our currency used to promise to pay the bearer $1 in gold on demand. Those notes were quietly retired because we were running out of gold to redeem them. The next issue promised to pay the bearer on demand $1 in silver. That didn’t last too long before the currency was changed to read "this is a dollar."

So the dollar, which was at one time worth a lot more than its weight in gold, now, and for a long time, has been worth only what people will trade for it.

The value changes daily. Because the changes are subtle, you may not recognize them at first. Prices rise because your "money" is worth less. But you are inclined to blame the merchant because he is on the spot.

And adding $700 billion to the "money" supply, on whatever pretext, will only create $700 billion in worthless currency to be injected into the system. It will dilute the value of all the dollar-denominated assets you own from the cash in your pocket to your money in the bank.

You won’t lose any money. The government will print as much as it needs. If you have a $100 bill in your pocket, it will still be worth $100. But $100 will be worth less cereal, fewer pills, fewer tires, less gasoline. What you used to buy with $100 will cost you $110, $120 or more.

I have been relating the currency crisis in Zimbabwe in my Flashpoint commentaries in The Daily Territorial and on my website, www.newflashpoint.com. Why was I bothering readers with the travails of some little country in far-away Africa?

Because it was a demonstration case for the effects of currency debasement whose economy was not as resilient as ours. I laughed when they issued a bill denominated as $100,000,000,000 ($100 billion), which could buy one egg. I said at the time that at least they’ll never run out of toilet paper. But I warned we were on the same track.

They weren’t listening then. They’re not listening now.

On Oct. 1, George Soros inserted himself into the problem. Soros does not have the interests of the United States at heart. He has only his own interests at heart and he has expressed contempt for our country. His advice must be considered with a great deal of caution. He does not wish us well.

By the time you read this, many questions will have been resolved for better or for worse. But of one thing I am certain. This country is not about to make its currency redeemable in something real any time soon. Politicians are too busy further debasing it.

And thanks to all our buddies and trading partners around the world who snickered at us when our problem was first revealed but changed their tune when they realized that what hurts the USA will hurt them all worse.

Then they got mad and started making demands on us - just what we needed at this time.

When it comes to money, there are no friends. The bile that came from our European and Asian trading partners was startling. Many said it served us right. They were glad to see the United States cut down to size, to end the era when America effectively policed the world. Just don’t come running to us when the Russians, the Chinese and/or the Venezuelans start giving you orders or crossing your borders.

We may not be able to defend the whole world any more as we now try to do. Won’t that make a fun world?

E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Contact Lionel Waxman at territorial@waxmanmedia.com. Waxman’s Flashpoint commentaries are published in The Daily Territorial.