Money: what it is and what you work for.
Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 04:38PM
Pictured above is not money. We have been schooled and taught to believe that this is money and we should work hard to earn it. Yet, what you see above are actually Federal Reserve Notes not U.S. dollars or money. Money has value because it's tied to and valued against a precious metal usually gold or silver as in the British Pound Sterling. But, what we circulate here in the United States is a piece of paper not worth the paper its printed on. In 1971, then president Richard M. Nixon completed the final phase of devaluing the U.S. dollar by removing it from the gold standard.
By taking the U.S. dollar off the gold standard this virtually ensured that inflation would become the order of the day and that you and I would be dealing with fiat currency. Basically fiat currency has no value at all, other than a mental value assigned to it by the people using it. Thus, to get a handle on a piece of whats happening in this economy we have to gain an understanding of how the word currency plays in this scheme of things.
When thinking of the word currency, of course we can notice the word current as its root. In the United States economic system, its of the utmost importance for people to spend money not save it. If you recall president George W. Bush urging people to go out and travel, and spend as if nothing had happened only a few short days after the planes crashed into the World Trade Center in Manhatten, New York. He and his advisors knew what the impact would be if people stayed home and and did not spend (move) the currency. In other words, if the currency stagnated there would be serious ramifications in the economy. There must be a movement of the currency to keep the economic system intact.
When this "downturn" occured one of the first things Dubya did was call for Congress to pass an economic stimulus package and send out checks to the people, knowing the U.S. public would go out and spend. I did warn this was only to put funds into the hands of the people to spend to give the appearnce that the third quarter would have a better showing. They had learned from the poor spending on "Black Friday" in November of 2007 that something needed to be done to keep the currency flowing, since the economy stalled out in the 4th quarter last year. Now president elect Obama is calling for another stimulus package to keep the economy stimulated probably for the first or second quarter.
We have to look to the future as we see the collapse of the U.S. economic system set in motion starting as far back as the Aldrich-Vreeland act of 1908, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the infamous Gold Confiscation Act by Franklin D. Roosevelt in April of 1933, and finally Nixon removing the dollar from the gold standard as mentioned above. Maybe we are actually heading to the North American Union's fiat currency called the Amero.
Reader Comments (16)
This was a wonderful post! I remember how shocked I was when I first discovered that paper money didn't always exist. I also remember how horrified I was when I discovered the idea of fiat currency. It's like a game of musical chairs. Eventually the music stops when we no longer agree that the paper money has any value at all.
There are also the history book photos from pre-war Germany of people needing a wheelbarrow full of near-worthless paper money to buy a loaf of bread. {shudder}
Do you have any thoughts about what folks should do to prepare for whatever is coming? Or any helpful reading materials?
Peace, blessings and solidarity.
What you describe concerning pre war Germany is massive inflation. At this juncture of U.S. history you may begin to hear the word Deflation being bandied about. This could mean the serious collapse of the monetary system as we know it. Since the collapse of a monetary system has not really hit the entirety of the country in the past, I have seen no books or pamphlets on how to protect ourselves. I'm sure, soon coming forth will be some valid information. One thing I do adhere to and have been for years, is to grow as much of your own food and can it yourself. At least you may have that to barter with. We shall see.
i am with Torrance---DON'T GET ME STARTED!!!
i have been having this conversation with folks for awhile now. it seems that most don't want to know.
pay attention as "the candidate, potus elect of CHANGE" goes right along and does the same ole thing. all that are in bed with the fed are a part of the problem. now, in fairness, i do understand if one doesn't play along...
Ensayn, i love and appreciate you more than these words convey. thanks for the post!
blessings,
focusedpurpose
@FP, Thank you for coming by. This is a subject T at Rawdawg keeps going and the blind continue to be blind, the deaf will continue to be deaf, and the dumb, you know dumb. I think the people are under anesthesia.
Is this time different than the great depression of 1930s? I need to look that up.
Those who have knowledge may be at a lost as to what to do. My grandmother's advice was to buy gold/silver/platinum in amounts that she could afford. When I was 19 years old my orthodontist told me the same thing. He was an elderly man who had a handful of patients so that he would remain active. He would talk to me for over an hour. I learned so much and over the years I've been puting it to use.
Although to be honest, I will do it, but I don't understand it. When things are dire how will a piece of gold help me? People will be desparate for necessities, no? Or will things simply revert to the time of gold and silver being currency. I would think things would sink to the level of bartering necessities and then slowly rise up to gold and silver bartering.
Then again, I am not an economist.
Miriam, I am not sure that our core of readers and commenters don't heed the warnings. Its more the day to day people that I come into contact with that seem to be sleeping and maybe the casual reader that my just stumble on to my site. As far as gold and silver, this will put you ahead of the game. If you've noticed the commercials on radio and television that are asking people to send in their gold and silver and they will appraise and send you back the money. This commercial alone lets us know that this is what money really is and who wiill have it and who will not. I think bartering and the acceptance of gold and silver as payment will occur at the same time, however it may not be accepted by the power companies, or any business you have loans with. There is nothing wrong with putting together staples at all. As far as the great depression I would say it is. The U.S. government built in a lot of fail safes so to speak to avoid the long soup lines. As you may remember from history books there was no welfare or social programs to assist the people. This is worse in a sense because the system is crashing and affecting everything.
Hagar's Daughter, he was schooling you on the truth and right. Unfortunately I had no one to teach me on that level but I did learn and put into practice.
In a way its sad in that the people seem to be in a cold war or silent war against the gov't and many aren't even aware.
Just wow.
This issue will affect us in profound ways. I wrote about plans to create a NAU this past summer; come by and read it if you get a chance.
~ Kit
Manifest Destiny, Res 362 & The North American Union
http://keepittrill.blogspot.com/2008/07/independence-day-manifest-destiny-nau.html
BTW, I'm working on a project. Email me at kitsmailbag@gmail.com and I'll share it with you.
~ Kit