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View Full Version : Jailed counterfeiters aren't a patch on the Bank of England




JohnEngland
11-20-2010, 03:32 AM
Great article by Sky News' Jeff Randall on the crime that is inflation. This is just the first few paragraphs, but it's worth reading the lot:


With Wills and Kate dominating the news pages, some of you may have missed an intriguing case at Leeds Crown Court last week. It ended with four men being jailed for a remarkable counterfeiting operation. The gang’s plan was to print more than £5 million and flood the country with fake currency. Sentencing them, the judge acknowledged that their sophisticated scheme had produced high-quality notes on a commercial scale. He explained that long custodial terms were appropriate because the offences undermined confidence in the economic system and could have “caused a lot of people to lose their money” (forged £20 notes were trading for just £2).

The problem with counterfeit paper is that it’s not backed by gold or any other store of value. Whereas proper money, printed by the Bank of England, is, of course, er… also not backed by gold or any other store of value.

It’s a “promise to pay” – but with what? In effect, the counterfeiters and the Old Lady are in the same business: producing something for nothing, money from thin air. The only discernible differences are legality and scale of ambition: through its recent programme of quantitative easing, the Bank has printed an extra £200 billion – and is tempted to keep going.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeffrandall/8147849/Jailed-counterfeiters-arent-a-patch-on-the-Bank-of-England.html