What do you say to people when they think only the federal reserve is involved in counterfeiting our money supply?
How do I get them to realize that the government is involved in this process?
You use these stats:
Receipts fiscal year 2009 2,104,613
Receipts fiscal year 2008 2,523,642
Outlays fiscal year 2009 3,521,734
Outlays fiscal year 2008 2,978,440
I need a the missing link that shows how the government decides when to inflate the money supply…
It doesn’t, it just does its best to look the other way while it enjoys unlimited credit to fund unlimited deficits.
Who beats me up when I try to start my own currency? Is it Ben Bernanke?
The government sells bonds. Purchase of government bonds by the central bank is always inflationary. The central bank has only a few ways (by law) to print money and the purchase of government bonds is the most important (and most inflationary) means by which it does so. It should be obvious how both the government and the central bank benefit from this arrangement (government has an expanded debt ceiling and the central bank, more specifically, the commercial bank members of the central bank) earn interest on … thin air. Since the central bank is at the behest of the state in exercising this privilege, the state has the prerogative to roll over its bonds held by the central bank indefinitely.
As for the missing link, we’d have to have a wiretap the phones of the Fed board of governors, FOMC, etc. They have arrangements with foreign central banks (especially the ECB) and, of course, work intimately with the US government. The implication made bymany EtF folks is that the Fed can do anything it wants no matter what DC says, but it can’t. They can’t afford not to lick the boots of Washington because they could be nationalized at a moment’s notice. They only get to continue running their counterfeiting racket so long as they do so in a way that makes DC happy. Now, the larger question of whether DC is really running the Fed, or someone else, entirely, is setting policy both in DC and at the Fed is an open question in my mind.
Clayton -
if the federal reserve creates money from thin air…i am not sure you can call that counterfeiting ‘our’ money.
whoever the our is…the voters? the subjects? and if it comes from thin air is it really counterfitting?
or a special way of govt creating credit for itself…whether or not it benefits the many???
some claim the federal reserve operates unconstitutionally from a law standpoint.
some anarchists may claim that its process may not be such an issue but its current governemental status is the problem, as far as economic freedom is concerned.
i dont believe (from what i have read??) that the federal reserve counterfeits…but that what it does is probably as self serving as any counterfitter. gold and silver money, with 100% reserves may in itself have provided more economic freedom (albeit mentioned as final tender in law) than the current system.
Edison is right.
Each note was suppose to be backed by 100% gold. When it printed more notes then actual gold, it is counterfeiting no different then the actual process of counterfeiting the gold coins. Sure, the government can legalize the process and it seizes to be recognized as counterfeiting by the law. But if you believe that the concept of property rights exists outside the realm of government, then fraud remains fraud despite legislation to the contrary.
Explain to them that the Federal Reserve is effectively part of the government. Isn’t this obvious?
This is something I’ve never gotten a handle on. Is the UST really selling a trillion worth of bonds a year to finance its annual deficits? Either they’re falling short, which means pure, Fed funny-money to cover the checks presented on the Treasury’s account, or you’ve got virtually all the central banks of most of the globe adding digits 24/7 to make the purchases. I guess if the Japanese can denominate their debt in the quadrillions of yen, we can do the same but it’s got to end somewhere.
Why do you think the big investment banks and hedge funds are still making record profits? They’re printing money and lending it to the government.
To me, the issue you raise is not so important, although it is effective for anti-fed propaganda. The main facts about the Fed are not secret: It creates money, it provides liquidity to banks, it buys government debt, it regulates and coordinates the entire banking system. It attempts to centrally plan the most importan price in the market - Interest! What more do possibly want?
So who cares if the Fed uses its power to favor its friends? What other friends do you have in mind? Obamas friends? Perhaps’s your friends? It’s bound to be somebody’s friends anyway. So who cares??? There is no other more rational mehtod by which the Fed can inject money into the system anyway.
The bill was a promise to redeem the full amount of gold on demand. If the government prints more bills then gold, it is defrauding its citizens, for it cannot fulfill its obligation when the day comes and citizens wake up to this fraud and decide to demand their gold. In fact, this is precisely why the gold was finally confiscated.
I don’t care about legal definitions for fraud provided by the government. They can legislate all they want but they can’t change the nature of their action. Theft is theft and fraud is fraud.
Point is, the constitution only allows for silver and gold coin to be used as legal tender…
people say, well the federal reserve is not a gov. entity, so they can do this…
well, the federal reserve note is forced on us…so its not exactly private…
our gov. forces us to use federal reserve notes…
a private institution could never force their currency on us…
yes…prices have risen dramatically…
if you had savings for instance…you had real wealth stolen from you.
You have no right to value.
You have right to your wealth.
No one took away his dollars.