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Anyone remember Stiff the Fed?The Federal Reserve recently increased interest rates to 1.75 percent. This is the highest interest rates have been since 2008, but it still leaves rates at historic lows. While the Fed says economic growth justifies future rate increases, an honest examination of the economy suggests that future rate increases are unlikely.
The Fed’s claim that the economy is strong is based on misleading government statistics. For example, the official unemployment rate understates true unemployment by not counting those who have given up looking for work. According to John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics, the real unemployment rate is above 20 percent. Government figures also understate the rate of inflation by pretending that you are not negatively impacted by inflation if you can still buy hamburger when you cannot afford steak. Shadow Stats estimates that the real rate of inflation is as much as four times higher than the official rate.
President Trump’s tariffs will further weaken the economy. While export-driven industries, including manufacturers that rely on imported materials, will be particularly hard-hit, the tariffs combined with the inevitable retaliation from other counties will impact all sectors of the economy. A global trade war could also lead other countries to stop buying US debt instruments, increasing pressure on the Fed to keep rates low.
Since Republicans have held control of the White House and Congress over the last year, federal spending has increased 12.9 percent. Clearly those in Congress serious about reducing government spending are few and far between. The sad fact is that both major parties are happy to increase welfare and warfare spending, although many Republicans pretend to oppose deficits when a Democrat sits in the White House. This puts tremendous pressure on the Fed to keep rates low so as not to increase the federal government’s already high interest payments.
This cannot last forever. Eventually the combination of a spendthrift Congress and a print-happy central bank will cause a major economic crisis. This crisis will herald the end of the welfare-warfare state and the fiat money system that sustains it. The only question is whether the existing system will be replaced by a free market and limited constitutional government or we will complete our descent into totalitarianism.
Fortunately, more Americans are becoming aware of the freedom philosophy and demanding that government roll back the welfare-warfare state and rein in the Fed. Many are also demanding protection of their right to opt out — not just from government programs like Obamacare but also from the Federal Reserve System. For example, Wyoming recently joined Arizona in passing a law recognizing gold and silver as legal tender. Citizens of these states are now able to protect themselves from the coming dollar crisis by using what has historically been considered real money.
At the federal level, the movement to audit the Fed remains strong. As the failures of Keynesianism become more apparent, the movement to audit and end the Fed will grow in size and strength. Hopefully this movement will ensure the end of the welfare-warfare state and the fiat currency system as well as lead to a new era of liberty.
I think this may only be half of the solution that is absolutely necessary to stabilize the money system. Most people, including far too many Libertarians do not fully understand how our money system works. It is not their fault. People that do not understand are not supposed to understand. It is that very confusion that creates an opportunity to hide in secrecy, just as JFK warned us about. Lets explain this clearly so that everyone can understand how our money system works without confusion.
Whether it is accurate or not, we have all heard the term the "govt just prints money". It is a half truth because it is greatly oversimplified. To understand what really happens, the Terms need to be more easily explained for everyone.
- Monetary Policy - Print the money (yes, oversimplified)
- Fiscal Plicy - Destroy the money (Federal Income Tax)
In order to maintain "balance" in this type of system, the money that is "printed" must also be destroyed. If you have a bucket of water, and just continue to pour more and more water into the bucket, it will overflow and water will be wasted. What also happens is that the value of each smaller measurement of water is devalued, the purchasing power continues to go down. Inflation is an "increase in the money supply" which causes the purchasing power of each individual dollar to go down. Infinite money printing therefore is not sustainable without a measure to prevent "overflow".
Fiscal Policy is a system that is designed to reduce the total volume of money. Again, refer to the bucket of water. If you remove as much water from the bucket as you put in, you have a "balance". When you hear most people refer to Fiscal Policy, it is both expressed and thought of by most people as "Taxation" which means to "collect money". There are major problems with the way that people understand this. First, the Federal Government does NOT use Federal Income Tax to fund its expenses. What is collected by the Federal Income Tax is NOT used to fund the Federal Government. Not One Cent. Period. Second, the currency that has been collected by Federal Income Tax does NOT stay in circulation. Since the government does not use Federal Income Tax to fund any expenditures at all, that money (non tangible such as a checking acct balance) is quite literally destroyed. The next major misconception that causes confusion is that the IRS is a part of the Federal Government. It is not. The IRS is the counterpart to the Federal Reserve Bank, which, despite the confusion inferred by the name is also not a part of the Federal Government. The Federal Reserve Bank is no more Federal than Federal Express.
Both the money creation and money destruction are part of the designed system. Both the Federal Reserve Bank and the IRS were created by the 16th Amendment, and both are needed to "balance" the system. If you have too much currency in the system, the purchasing power of each individual dollar decreases by a proportional amount to the increase in the money supply. If you have a total volume of 100 dollars, and print up one new dollar, that new dollar gets its value from the existing currency, causing the value of the existing currency to go down. Thus, with a total of 101 dollars, the purchasing power of each dollar drops to 99 cents. The way to balance the system here would be to "Tax" one dollar out of circulation, reducing the total volume of money back to 100, and in theory, cause the existing currency to retain its purchasing power.
The big problem is that there are two systems in place that work together. Removing only one part of the system unbalances the entire system. Remove just the IRS and the money supply increases. Remove just the Federal Reserve Bank and the money supply decreases. Abolishing the IRS is part of the solution, but what no layman is ever taught is that they need to focus just as hard on removing and replacing the Federal Reserve Bank, and its bank notes with US Treasury bank notes.
Despite anything that Zippyjuan will say, this is what makes Central Banks more dangerous than standing armies to the long term survival of all nations. Please note that I have purposefully oversimplified the functions and have not factored in Interest at all. This is Keynesian Economics at its most simple form, and in theory, it works. Does it work in practice? You tell me. Take a look around. Tell me if this money system frees the ordinary man from the clutches of the money manipulators, or enslaves them? You tell me if a small business will be granted a loan, not based solely on their credit reputation, but on the intended function of the business. You tell me if a mom and pop publication would be granted a loan to print information that discredits our entire banking and money system. You tell me if JP Morgan pulled funding from Nikolai Tesla who intended to create free electricity for everyone. You tell me if a cheap cancer cure would be funded, or denied in favor of more expensive and less effective medical treatments. You tell me if the direction of our country is determined by a small group of dominant men or not, who control that direction by issue of credit and currency.
You tell me if our money system is Honest.
Originally Posted by Zippyjuan
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