The Lincoln Money Cabal | Why the Greenbackers Are Wrong

[Steven Douglas]

Fiat worked in colonial America, fiat worked during Lincoln America, and fiat can work now. All we have to do is control the quantity of it's printing absent of central banking regulation. Gold is great, but Fort Knox is empty, it's all been transferred overseas to foreigners -- so a gold standard would not be possible. End the Federal Reserve, begin to print debt/interest free US notes (greenbacks), start investing in gold, and when we have a plentiful supply, print gold notes as a safety net.

See my post above. And fiat currency in colonial America lived and died like a lot of thin-air promises that are eventually broken, and eventually wasn't worth a Continental.

The problem with any currency that originates from anything other than a single title to tangible wealth is DISTRIBUTION. Whatever new currency is created ultimately dilutes the value of all other currency in existence. That is what makes it an invisible tax.

If we can beyond the notion that CONFISCATION OF VALUE is fine, well and good, the question remains: Who are those fortunate elites connected to government that get first use of all that wonderful newly confiscated value and siphoned wealth? And what if my little popsicle stand is out in the boondocks, or at the bottom of the New Fiat Currency Distribution Chain? Degrees of separation dictates that I'm always forced to run constantly faster and exert more energy to stay ahead of the inflationary treadmill than anyone else, because the more time it takes for new currency to get to me, the more time inflation has to propagate to me as well.

FIRST USERS ALWAYS HAVE THE ECONOMIC UPPER HAND

You say, "All we have to do is control the quantity of it's printing..."

Oh, wonderful...and glossed over while begging the question of WHO is going to "control" it? Our TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS DEFICIT SPENDING CONGRESS? They would "control" the quantity of currency? They're in a better position than commercial banks to allocate these supposedly scarce resources? That kind of "control"?

End the Federal Reserve, begin to print debt/interest free US notes (greenbacks), start investing in gold, and when we have a plentiful supply, print gold notes as a safety net.

I actually don't want to end the Federal Reserve, any more than I want its nasty currency-debasing power to rob savings given over exclusively to a spend-happy Congress. I just want the chains on all the Fed System's doors broken--DESTROYED--with NATURAL checks and balances in place that operate on the individual level. Any system that requires 100% mandatory participation in order to work is already on foul economic footing, and has the stench of dead rat and disease all over it. Rest assured someone's getting royally fucked in that process.

Our power and ability to create VOLUNTARY ESCAPE EXITS is absolutely paramount. That way, when the currency does fail (as it is designed to, and will), and people decide not accept it, even at gunpoint, we won't be reduced to barter as an alternative.

Don't talk to me about how all my currency eggs in one federal basket would be a great thing, if they would just create a ship so sound and so well piloted and controlled that God Himself Could Not Sink This Ship.

[Dick Chaney]

See my post above. And fiat currency in colonial America lived and died like a lot of thin-air promises that are eventually broken, and eventually wasn't worth a Continental.

The problem with any currency that originates from anything other than a single title to tangible wealth is DISTRIBUTION. Whatever new currency is created ultimately dilutes the value of all other currency in existence. That is what makes it an invisible tax.

If we can beyond the notion that CONFISCATION OF VALUE is fine, well and good, the question remains: Who are those fortunate elites connected to government that get first use of all that wonderful newly confiscated value and siphoned wealth? And what if my little popsicle stand is out in the boondocks, or at the bottom of the New Fiat Currency Distribution Chain? Degrees of separation dictates that I'm always forced to run constantly faster and exert more energy to stay ahead of the inflationary treadmill than anyone else, because the more time it takes for new currency to get to me, the more time inflation has to propagate to me as well.

FIRST USERS ALWAYS HAVE THE ECONOMIC UPPER HAND

You say, "All we have to do is control the quantity of it's printing..."

Oh, wonderful...and glossed over while begging the question of WHO is going to "control" it? Our TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS DEFICIT SPENDING CONGRESS? They would "control" the quantity of currency? They're in a better position than commercial banks to allocate these supposedly scarce resources? That kind of "control"?



I actually don't want to end the Federal Reserve, any more than I want its nasty currency-debasing power to rob savings given over exclusively to a spend-happy Congress. I just want the chains on all the Fed System's doors broken--DESTROYED--with NATURAL checks and balances in place that operate on the individual level. Any system that requires 100% mandatory participation in order to work is already on foul economic footing, and has the stench of dead rat and disease all over it. Rest assured someone's getting royally fucked in that process.

Our power and ability to create VOLUNTARY ESCAPE EXITS is absolutely paramount. That way, when the currency does fail (as it is designed to, and will), and people decide not accept it, even at gunpoint, we won't be reduced to barter as an alternative.

Don't talk to me about how all my currency eggs in one federal basket would be a great thing, if they would just create a ship so sound and so well piloted and controlled that God Himself Could Not Sink This Ship.

It only died because the British passed the currency acts -- keep spreading the Austrian propaganda sir.

[Steven Douglas]

It only died because the British passed the currency acts -- keep spreading the Austrian propaganda sir.

Best kind in the world, sir, so I will, and thank you for the encouragement. And you keep spreading the Keynesian ever-expanding-funny-munny-is-great! propaganda. And no prizes to anyone for guessing who will be advocating individual choice between the two currencies. And just in case you do feel that a fiat currency is just as good as any other (no artificial barriers to entry on either), and aren't threatened by alternatives, we can both be happy. You choose your fav, I'll choose mine.

[Brian4Liberty]

Interesting scenario: when there were both Federal Reserve Notes and Silver Certificates, what would have happened if the "exchange rate" between the two had not been fixed? Allowing them to be competing currencies would have been interesting.

[Steven Douglas]

Interesting scenario: when there were both Federal Reserve Notes and Silver Certificates, what would have happened if the "exchange rate" between the two had not been fixed? Allowing them to be competing currencies would have been interesting.

It wasn't so much that the exchange rate was fixed, as FRN's were also redeemable in silver until the 1960's. When the Secretary of the Treasury announced in '64 that Silver Certificates would no longer be redeemable for silver dollars, Fed Notes became irredeemable at the same time. Had Fed Notes not been redeemable, Gresham's Law would have taken over anyway, as it did for a short time (my grandfather hoarded Silver Certificates out of fear that Fed Notes were taking over).

So it's more like what would have happened had neither been declared legal tender, and both currencies really were allowed to float against one another (similar to Canadian Dollars vs. US Dollars). If that had happened, both currencies could have competed for real, and neither would have been driven out of circulation. The same thing would have been true for gold and silver had neither of them been pegged to the other. The silver market still would still have been gamed, of course, but ultimately the lid would have come off. Assuming Silver Certificates really did remain redeemable in silver, the fiat dollar would have taken a pounding a long time ago, and a lot of private contracts would have been written demanding payment in Silver Certs only. Furthermore, NOBODY would pay taxes using Silver Certs.

I've come to a conclusion about something I think is kind of a misnomer, and that's the term "competing" currencies. Currencies that aren't pegged to one another technically compete, but not to the death. They don't drive one another out of existence, any more than wheat could drive rice out of existence, or vice versa; they just gain relative strengths or weaknesses. To get currencies to actually compete -- as in a fight to the death -- all you have to do is peg the value of one to the other in the same place they both circulate (e.g., Jackson's bimetallic standard). That de facto legal tender law assures the invocation of Gresham's law, as people will always hoard the undervalued currency, while preferring to spend only the most overvalued currency.