I haven't written anything here in quite a while and even made the blog "private" for a time. My reasons for doing so were that 1) I've already covered all the fundamentals of both sound money as our nation's founders defined it as well as the harm done to the economy and to the vast majority of individuals by the "funny money" Federal Reserve System; and 2) there are now a great many other sites/blogs as well as news sites and a few political figures who are spreading information about the two topics mentioned in 1) above.
Rather than engage in an ongoing exercise in redundancy, I have decided to make no further posts here but to leave the site available to the public for the resources it contains. These resources are chiefly the video Our American Money, the United States Currency Converter, the Money Box posters, My Favorite Links, and Recommended Reading. If I'm feeling especially feisty, I might update the Prudence Dollarwise widget.
In the meantime, my best wishes to all my readers.
Tom
-- Have you seen Our American Money? Please do. And share the link.
Our American Money (Educational Video)
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Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Why Sound Money Is A Basic Human Right: Alasdair Macleod
On October 20, 2011, Alasdair Macleod gave a speech in New York City at the Committee for Monetary Research & Education's Fall Meeting. The title of the speech was, Why Sound Money Is A Basic Human Right, which you can read at FinanceAndEconomics.org at the link here. Macleod, who runs FinanceAndEconomics.org, "a website dedicated to sound money and demystifying finance and economics," who is a Senior Fellow at the GoldMoney Foundation, and who has a background in banking, stock-brokerage, and economics, presents a through indictment of the system of centrally managed fiat scrip that has replaced our constitutional system of sound money. In discussing the currently unfolding demise of this fiat system, which Macleod describes as, "the end of the road for the post-war Keynesian experiment," he observes:
But there are still people who think that the risk is deflation not inflation. Presumably the Fed thinks so, since it has stated that it expects interest rates to stay at close to zero until mid-2013. They will be in for a shock, and here’s why.
They are about to learn the difference between sound money and their fiat money. Real money cannot be issued by central banks. Fiat money is an undated interest-free claim on a government whose central bank merely tells us that it is money. The difference is important, because in a depression, the purchasing power of real money, measured in goods, increases. In the same depression the purchasing power of fake money falls with the financial condition of the issuing government and with its accelerating supply. This is the dynamic behind the rise in the price of gold over the last decade.
Although Keynes died in 1946, his legacy still shackles us today.
Please take the time to read Macleod's speech and share it with others.
-- Have you seen Our American Money? Please do. And share the link.
But there are still people who think that the risk is deflation not inflation. Presumably the Fed thinks so, since it has stated that it expects interest rates to stay at close to zero until mid-2013. They will be in for a shock, and here’s why.
They are about to learn the difference between sound money and their fiat money. Real money cannot be issued by central banks. Fiat money is an undated interest-free claim on a government whose central bank merely tells us that it is money. The difference is important, because in a depression, the purchasing power of real money, measured in goods, increases. In the same depression the purchasing power of fake money falls with the financial condition of the issuing government and with its accelerating supply. This is the dynamic behind the rise in the price of gold over the last decade.
Although Keynes died in 1946, his legacy still shackles us today.
Please take the time to read Macleod's speech and share it with others.
-- Have you seen Our American Money? Please do. And share the link.
Friday, August 19, 2011
When Is A Note Not A Note? When It's A Federal Reserve Note!
As ubiquitous as Federal Reserve Notes are, their ubiquity is surely exceeded by the glaring evidence of fraud apparent in their wording. I refer, of course, to the misapplication of the term "note" printed thereon.
A "note," as defined at Law.com, is "...a written statement of debt by one or more people to one or more people, with a statement of a specific amount owed or due, date it is due, interest (if any) on the amount, and other terms such as installments, penalty for late payment, full amount due if delinquent, how secured (as by real property), and attorneys' fees and costs if required to collect on the note." [Emphasis added.]
From the above, we learn that to qualify as a "note," a written statement must include at least the following information:
1. The maker of the note
2. The payee of the note
3. The specific amount of the note
4. When the amount specified on the note is due.
To see an example of a real note, we need look no further than the once common one dollar "silver certificate" that circulated until it was replaced by the Federal Reserve Note in 1965:
A glance at the business side of the silver certificate shown above reveals the four key elements of any legitimate note:
1. The maker of the note = the United States Treasury
2. The payee of the note = the bearer
3. The specific amount of the note = one dollar in silver
4. When the amount specified on the note is due = on demand.
Contrast the foregoing with the information (or lack thereof) found on a Federal Reserve Note:
1. The maker of the note = the Federal Reserve
2. The payee of the note = ?
3. The specific amount of the note = ?
4. When the amount specified on the note is due = ?
Given that most of the information needed for the Federal Reserve Note to qualify as a legitimate note is noteworthy by its absence, some people have taken to calling it an "IOU nothing."
It's enough to make me wonder if our current dollar bill isn't just about a dollar short?
-- Have you seen Our American Money? Please do. And share the link.
A "note," as defined at Law.com, is "...a written statement of debt by one or more people to one or more people, with a statement of a specific amount owed or due, date it is due, interest (if any) on the amount, and other terms such as installments, penalty for late payment, full amount due if delinquent, how secured (as by real property), and attorneys' fees and costs if required to collect on the note." [Emphasis added.]
From the above, we learn that to qualify as a "note," a written statement must include at least the following information:
1. The maker of the note
2. The payee of the note
3. The specific amount of the note
4. When the amount specified on the note is due.
To see an example of a real note, we need look no further than the once common one dollar "silver certificate" that circulated until it was replaced by the Federal Reserve Note in 1965:
A glance at the business side of the silver certificate shown above reveals the four key elements of any legitimate note:
1. The maker of the note = the United States Treasury
2. The payee of the note = the bearer
3. The specific amount of the note = one dollar in silver
4. When the amount specified on the note is due = on demand.
Contrast the foregoing with the information (or lack thereof) found on a Federal Reserve Note:
1. The maker of the note = the Federal Reserve
2. The payee of the note = ?
3. The specific amount of the note = ?
4. When the amount specified on the note is due = ?
Given that most of the information needed for the Federal Reserve Note to qualify as a legitimate note is noteworthy by its absence, some people have taken to calling it an "IOU nothing."
It's enough to make me wonder if our current dollar bill isn't just about a dollar short?
-- Have you seen Our American Money? Please do. And share the link.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Real Money Versus Fake Money: The Essential Differences
Since ancient times, gold and silver coins have functioned as the money of choice in civilized societies. They are the most common forms of real money.
What makes them real? They are real, in the sense of real wealth, in that real labor and real industry are required to extract the metals from their deposits in the earth, refine them, transport them, and form them into coins. Due to the large amount of labor required in the creation of real money, its supply tends to remain relatively constant over ordinary spans of time.
In this connection it is worth noting that the monetary system of the United States is founded on real money. The United States Constitution establishes the “dollar” by reference (see Article I Section 9 Clause 1 and Amendment VII) as the unit of account of the United States and declares that “No State shall...make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts....” (Article I Section 10 Clause 1). The Coinage Act of 2 April 1792 determined that the “dollar” was a coin containing 371.25 grains Troy of pure silver and also provided for gold coins regulated in value against the standard silver dollar by weight of precious metal according to the free market.
Fake money on the other hand, of which the current Federal Reserve Note is the most notorious example, only comes into existence when someone contracts a debt to a bank. It is created instantly, in whatever quantity required, with essentially zero labor, and destroyed just as effortlessly as the debt is paid off.
It is, in effect, a debt counter. As such, as debt to banks increases so does the quantity of fake money. And as debt gets paid off, the quantity of fake money decreases. If all debts to the banks were paid in full, there would be no fake money left in existence and, in the absence of circulating real money, nothing left to function as money in the economy. It is difficult to imagine a more perverse state of affairs in which paying off debt has a negative impact on economic activity by causing the simultaneous withdrawal of money from circulation. Contrast this perversity with the use of real money: if real money (e.g. gold and silver coin) is used to pay a debt, the coins still exist and continue to function as money in society.
In addition, increasing debt, leading as it must to an increasing quantity of fake money, leads also to increasing prices throughout the economy as the newly created money bids up those prices. The result is a situation commonly known as inflation. Decreasing debt, on the other hand, leads to a decrease in the quantity of fake money as described above. This situation leads to decreasing prices throughout the economy, commonly known as deflation. Both inflation and deflation, by distorting the economic indicators on which entrepreneurs depend when making business decisions, produce recessions and, in severe cases, depressions: periods of time in which the standard of living of most people goes down. Real money, due to the greater stability of its supply, causes no such violent expansions and contractions in the economy that in turn wreak great havoc upon the lives of ordinary people.
It is well past the time to end the insanity of using debt as money. America needs its real money back. Now more than ever!
-- Have you seen Our American Money? Please do. And share the link.
What makes them real? They are real, in the sense of real wealth, in that real labor and real industry are required to extract the metals from their deposits in the earth, refine them, transport them, and form them into coins. Due to the large amount of labor required in the creation of real money, its supply tends to remain relatively constant over ordinary spans of time.
In this connection it is worth noting that the monetary system of the United States is founded on real money. The United States Constitution establishes the “dollar” by reference (see Article I Section 9 Clause 1 and Amendment VII) as the unit of account of the United States and declares that “No State shall...make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts....” (Article I Section 10 Clause 1). The Coinage Act of 2 April 1792 determined that the “dollar” was a coin containing 371.25 grains Troy of pure silver and also provided for gold coins regulated in value against the standard silver dollar by weight of precious metal according to the free market.
Fake money on the other hand, of which the current Federal Reserve Note is the most notorious example, only comes into existence when someone contracts a debt to a bank. It is created instantly, in whatever quantity required, with essentially zero labor, and destroyed just as effortlessly as the debt is paid off.
It is, in effect, a debt counter. As such, as debt to banks increases so does the quantity of fake money. And as debt gets paid off, the quantity of fake money decreases. If all debts to the banks were paid in full, there would be no fake money left in existence and, in the absence of circulating real money, nothing left to function as money in the economy. It is difficult to imagine a more perverse state of affairs in which paying off debt has a negative impact on economic activity by causing the simultaneous withdrawal of money from circulation. Contrast this perversity with the use of real money: if real money (e.g. gold and silver coin) is used to pay a debt, the coins still exist and continue to function as money in society.
In addition, increasing debt, leading as it must to an increasing quantity of fake money, leads also to increasing prices throughout the economy as the newly created money bids up those prices. The result is a situation commonly known as inflation. Decreasing debt, on the other hand, leads to a decrease in the quantity of fake money as described above. This situation leads to decreasing prices throughout the economy, commonly known as deflation. Both inflation and deflation, by distorting the economic indicators on which entrepreneurs depend when making business decisions, produce recessions and, in severe cases, depressions: periods of time in which the standard of living of most people goes down. Real money, due to the greater stability of its supply, causes no such violent expansions and contractions in the economy that in turn wreak great havoc upon the lives of ordinary people.
It is well past the time to end the insanity of using debt as money. America needs its real money back. Now more than ever!
-- Have you seen Our American Money? Please do. And share the link.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
New Legislation Would Remove Taxes From U.S. Gold and Silver Coins
UPDATED 03 JULY 2011
The text of S. 1287 is now available at both THOMAS and GovTrack. It is very brief.
UPDATE 29 JUNE 2011
The "Sound Money Promotion Act" is designated S. 1287: A bill to treat gold and silver coins used as legal tender in the same manner as United States currency for taxation purposes. Although the text of the legislation is not yet available, you may follow it's progress at THOMAS here, at GovTrack here, or in the bill tracking widget in the right-hand sidebar. The bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Finance.
------------------------
According to press releases (see here and here), Senators Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) have introduced legislation that would eliminate taxes on gold and silver coins that the federal government or state governments have declared legal tender.
Called the "Sound Money Promotion Act," the bill is described as an effort to begin the restoration of sound money in the United States.
As of this writing, no text of the legislation, bill number, or tracking information is available via either THOMAS or GovTrack. More information as it becomes available.
-- Have you seen Our American Money? Please do. And share the link.
The text of S. 1287 is now available at both THOMAS and GovTrack. It is very brief.
UPDATE 29 JUNE 2011
The "Sound Money Promotion Act" is designated S. 1287: A bill to treat gold and silver coins used as legal tender in the same manner as United States currency for taxation purposes. Although the text of the legislation is not yet available, you may follow it's progress at THOMAS here, at GovTrack here, or in the bill tracking widget in the right-hand sidebar. The bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Finance.
According to press releases (see here and here), Senators Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) have introduced legislation that would eliminate taxes on gold and silver coins that the federal government or state governments have declared legal tender.
Called the "Sound Money Promotion Act," the bill is described as an effort to begin the restoration of sound money in the United States.
As of this writing, no text of the legislation, bill number, or tracking information is available via either THOMAS or GovTrack. More information as it becomes available.
-- Have you seen Our American Money? Please do. And share the link.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Two Important Interviews Featuring Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr.
Two interviews featuring Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr. that examine the current monetary crisis and discuss possible solutions:
1. The U.S. Monetary System and Descent into Fascism -- courtesy of Casey Research, and
2. Edwin Vieira Interview with James Turk -- courtesy of GoldMoney Foundation.
Both interviews are educational and recommended for those who want to understand where we are, how we got here, and where we might end up.
-- Have you seen Our American Money? Please do. And share the link.
1. The U.S. Monetary System and Descent into Fascism -- courtesy of Casey Research, and
2. Edwin Vieira Interview with James Turk -- courtesy of GoldMoney Foundation.
Both interviews are educational and recommended for those who want to understand where we are, how we got here, and where we might end up.
-- Have you seen Our American Money? Please do. And share the link.
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