choff wrote:I like Bill Still's solution to the debt problem, have the government stop printing interest bearing bonds for sale to the banks and start printing money. If this creates an inflation problem raise the banking reserve rate. People online are picking up on this idea in Canada, England, and Europe too.
I personally think of Government induced inflation as a THEFT of people's money.
Money is merely a place keeper for a good or service. What they are in effect doing, is stealing that good or service by rendering it's place keeper more and more worthless.
That is the wrong way round. You trust and use the Fed's money only because it is worth something. When there were many little banks their currencies were distinctly flakey, and runs on banks were common. In fact some other currencies now are in this position.
You may want Fed currency to be even more trustworthy than it is. Tough. At least you have it, which is a lot better than nothing. Without Fed government you would have something much less trustable. State backed currency? Bank backed currency? Whoops, we've got those, and CDS rates tell you how little those are trusted.
tomclarke wrote:
You may want Fed currency to be even more trustworthy than it is. Tough. At least you have it, which is a lot better than nothing. Without Fed government you would have something much less trustable. State backed currency? Bank backed currency? Whoops, we've got those, and CDS rates tell you how little those are trusted.
How about... following the constitution of the United States of America and using gold and silver coin?
Yes, there were (minor) fluctuations in the gold to silver ratio, and prices went _down_ occasionally because the value went up when demand outpaced production... but long term prices were stable.
tomclarke wrote:
You may want Fed currency to be even more trustworthy than it is. Tough. At least you have it, which is a lot better than nothing. Without Fed government you would have something much less trustable. State backed currency? Bank backed currency? Whoops, we've got those, and CDS rates tell you how little those are trusted.
How about... following the constitution of the United States of America and using gold and silver coin?
Yes, there were (minor) fluctuations in the gold to silver ratio, and prices went _down_ occasionally because the value went up when demand outpaced production... but long term prices were stable.
The price of gold has fluctuated wildly over the last 20 years in real terms. So I can't really see that keeping currencies on a gold standard is sensible. The Euro is in trouble because there is no way to change currency rates between euro countries. If two nations were both on the gold standard there would be a similar difficulty. (Not quite as bad, because in extremis one could devalue).
But my point is that people here were blaming government for mucking up money when without government there would be no money, and as national curencies go the $ for all the US's economic stupidity, mediated by ideologically driven political divides and a constitution designed to make central power very difficult to use without agreement, the $ does quite well.
In the UK inflation has been nothing to do with our currency, it is simply supply and demand - many commodities have got more expensive globally in real terms.
Why not use Silver along with Gold, a bimetal standard, there's a heck of a lot more Silver, and up until 1873 it was in fact used for currency, before it was banned, ever wonder why that was done?
You guys might want to google search and read a few short articles about the monetary system on Guernsey Island in the English Channel. The people there solved the whole problem right after the Napoleonic wars.
Do you trust private bankers to control both the printing and amount of money in circulation, deciding the matter in secret with no public input, accountable to no one else, or do you trust in a democratically elected federal government, operating under full public disclosure, that is what it all boils down to.
Case in point, under the Bank of Canada Act, the federal government must do all its borrowing from the Bank of Canada, which the Canadian federal government owns 100% of all shares therein.
Until 1974, all Canadian federal government borrowing was done through the BoC, any interest bearing bonds sold to the bank for money by the government created a profit for the bank. This was paid back to the federal government as a dividend into the federal governments revenue.
Under this system, the Canadian government was able to fund WW2, the Saint Lawrence Seaway, TransCanada Hwy, and National Healthcare. By 1974 to federal deficit was only $18 Billion, a near constant for decades, and since this was owed to a bank owned by the government, both the banks profits and interest policies were under government control.
But something happened after 1974, in secret, the government stopped all borrowing from the Bank of Canada, and started borrowing from privately owned international banks. When this happened all interest payments went out of the country to profit the private shareholders of those banks. The deficit quickly shot up to $600 Billion in the early eighties. It sits at about $400 Billion now, and every single year, each and every Canadian pays $1000.00 in taxes as interest payments to foreign private bankers.
A small group of people has filed a lawsuit in the Canadian federal court over the government not following the Bank of Canada Act since 1974, but guess what. If you write or email any politican about it, they never reply, likewise the media will never run the story.
The same banking system in in place in every country in the world except for Guernsey Island. The private banks create the crisis, then they sell the same solution to the politicians. Very soon they will tell you the printing and volume of money must be taken away from the nation states and given over to a private global bank in Switzerland, and if it kills your nations economy, the way the Eurozone is killing Greece, too bad, you're stuck with it!
The net worth of the American family has fallen to its lowest level in two decades, according to government data released Monday, driven by a more than 40 percent drop in their stakes in their homes.
The Federal Reserve’s detailed survey of consumer finances showed families’ median wealth plunged from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010 — a 39 percent decline. That put them on par with median wealth in 1992.
tomclarke wrote:
You may want Fed currency to be even more trustworthy than it is. Tough. At least you have it, which is a lot better than nothing. Without Fed government you would have something much less trustable. State backed currency? Bank backed currency? Whoops, we've got those, and CDS rates tell you how little those are trusted.
How about... following the constitution of the United States of America and using gold and silver coin?
Yes, there were (minor) fluctuations in the gold to silver ratio, and prices went _down_ occasionally because the value went up when demand outpaced production... but long term prices were stable.
Gold / Silver fluctuate more wildly then the USD. Currency backed on Gold / Silver can not work, there simply isn't enough of it in existence and physical objects can be manipulated much easier then a fiat currency can. Would you like your currency based on Diamonds?
As I'm currently living outside the USA for work, I can tell you that the USD is an incredibly strong currency. Tom is right, for all the mucking and BSing our governments done, the currency has been rather stable.
What you guys are really angry at is leveraging by financial institutions, which is basically creating money out of thin air. Our wealth didn't drop 40%, that 40% never existed and was a number only in theory. Once reality disproved theory then the invented numbers vanished. Most of our "wealth" was counted via home values. Something is only worth what another person is willing to pay for it, thus no matter what you paid for, or what you think your home is worth, its only worth something when it's time to sell. The entire housing derivatives market was nothing but gambling with speculators constantly upping the ante. Once it was time to call and everyone found out how bad a hand they had, the over-blown value of those homes dropped and thus "wealth" disappeared. That 500K home was never worth 500K, it was always a 300K home and if you bought it for 500K then you overspent.
It took the former Italian pm less that 24 hours to backtrack after saying his country should print its own currency, (guess he didn't want to be whacked).
“Capital must protect itself in every possible manner by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, bonds and mortgages must be foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When, through a process of law, the common people lose their homes they will become more docile and more easily governed through the influence of the strong arm of government, applied by a central power of wealth under control of leading financiers. This truth is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming an imperialism of Capital to govern the world. By dividing the voters through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance. Thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves what has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished.” - USA Banker’s Magazine, August 25, 1924
tomclarke wrote:
You may want Fed currency to be even more trustworthy than it is. Tough. At least you have it, which is a lot better than nothing. Without Fed government you would have something much less trustable. State backed currency? Bank backed currency? Whoops, we've got those, and CDS rates tell you how little those are trusted.
How about... following the constitution of the United States of America and using gold and silver coin?
Yes, there were (minor) fluctuations in the gold to silver ratio, and prices went _down_ occasionally because the value went up when demand outpaced production... but long term prices were stable.
Gold / Silver fluctuate more wildly then the USD. Currency backed on Gold / Silver can not work, there simply isn't enough of it in existence and physical objects can be manipulated much easier then a fiat currency can. Would you like your currency based on Diamonds?
As I'm currently living outside the USA for work, I can tell you that the USD is an incredibly strong currency. Tom is right, for all the mucking and BSing our governments done, the currency has been rather stable.
What you guys are really angry at is leveraging by financial institutions, which is basically creating money out of thin air. Our wealth didn't drop 40%, that 40% never existed and was a number only in theory. Once reality disproved theory then the invented numbers vanished. Most of our "wealth" was counted via home values. Something is only worth what another person is willing to pay for it, thus no matter what you paid for, or what you think your home is worth, its only worth something when it's time to sell. The entire housing derivatives market was nothing but gambling with speculators constantly upping the ante. Once it was time to call and everyone found out how bad a hand they had, the over-blown value of those homes dropped and thus "wealth" disappeared. That 500K home was never worth 500K, it was always a 300K home and if you bought it for 500K then you overspent.
And here you come out in opposition to specie currency. I am not surprised at all. You have an excellent record so far.
‘What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.’
— Lord Melbourne —
Great News: ex-World Bank Official Says United States Debt Has Finally Achieved "Death Spiral" Status
Richard Duncan, formerly of the World Bank and chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Mgmt., says America's $16 trillion federal debt has escalated into a "death spiral, "as he told CNBC.
And it could result in a depression so severe that he doesn't "think our civilization could survive it."
choff wrote:“Capital must protect itself in every possible manner by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, bonds and mortgages must be foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When, through a process of law, the common people lose their homes they will become more docile and more easily governed through the influence of the strong arm of government, applied by a central power of wealth under control of leading financiers. This truth is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming an imperialism of Capital to govern the world. By dividing the voters through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance. Thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves what has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished.” - USA Banker’s Magazine, August 25, 1924
Most every non-economic issue in current politics falls into that "questions of no importance". Yet people squabble over them like a high school glee club with a disagreement over what color scheme to use for the Homecoming dance.
choff wrote:“Capital must protect itself in every possible manner by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, bonds and mortgages must be foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When, through a process of law, the common people lose their homes they will become more docile and more easily governed through the influence of the strong arm of government, applied by a central power of wealth under control of leading financiers. This truth is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming an imperialism of Capital to govern the world. By dividing the voters through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance. Thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves what has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished.” - USA Banker’s Magazine, August 25, 1924
Most every non-economic issue in current politics falls into that "questions of no importance". Yet people squabble over them like a high school glee club with a disagreement over what color scheme to use for the Homecoming dance.
Libertarians make the mistake of believing that "economics" is an Island unto itself.
‘What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.’
— Lord Melbourne —
Even more fun, I was reading Antony C. Suttons hour by hour account of the passage of the federal reserve act, that it was both unconstitutional and passed in a manner that was unlawful, maybe somebody should poke it with a stick to find out.
Even more fun, I was reading Antony C. Suttons hour by hour account of the passage of the federal reserve act, that it was both unconstitutional and passed in a manner that was unlawful, maybe somebody should poke it with a stick to find out.
Which is a bunch of tin foil hat nonsense.
Next think you'll be telling me our current President isn't a naturally born US citizen, or that there was another shooter on the grassy knoll.
