The financial reform smoke-and-mirrors bill rewards the bankers and the corrupt monetary system .Opposing legal tender laws and supporting auditing the Fed isn't enough. by Walt Thiessen
(libertarian)
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The Dodd-Frank financial reform bill Congressional leaders have apparently cobbled together is nothing more than smoke-and-mirrors, designed to deceive the public into believing that Congress is doing something to stop the causes of the financial crisis and prevent future crises from occurring. In reality, it is nothing of the sort. Read through the highlights of the bill (low-lights, actually), and it becomes apparent to the trained eye that the bill will accomplish absolutely nothing to prevent future crises. Instead, it sets up more red tape and regulatory committees which will do nothing to address the root causes of the crisis.
Let's stop here and take a moment to review what those root causes are:
First, there's the fact that our entire monetary system is based on money created by issuing debts of all kinds, from government bonds to business loans to consumer loans. The issuance of these loans essentially increases the money supply with every loan made, which creates the illusion of prosperity while it in fact clandestinely destroys the value of individual units of that money over time. It is no exaggeration to say that our entire money supply is counterfeit. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to live in a society where counterfeiting was legal, your wish has been granted.
Second, there's the fact that banks have been permitted to lend out money which doesn't belong to them. This practice has taken place for centuries. Throughout the history of the United States, Congress has repeatedly passed new regulations in response to repeated financial crises, but none of them ever makes this absurd practice illegal. This practice of lending money which belongs to depositors, not to the bank itself, plays a key role in the creation of the debt-based money supply, as I describe in the previous paragraph.
Third, there's the fact that banks make these loans long-term while promising to return the money in the short-term to the depositors. A kindergartener can tell you that policy is bound to fail in the long run.
Thus, it isn't just the risky loans that created the financial crisis. ALL loans, including good loans, led to the crisis, just as they have led to every single financial crisis in modern history.
But the worst part of all is that all this legalized fraudulent behavior by the banks and by the government creates more than just financial crises (as if that's not enough!). No, the worst part is that, over the course of an individual's lifetime, this process of issuing debt-based money will eliminate the value of roughly 95% of any money you manage to save over that lifetime.
Nothing in the Dodd-Frank bill does anything to address any of these key issues. The entire bill actually favors the banking industry, leaving intact the key powers that make such crises come to fruition time after time.
Probably the most offensive smoke-and-mirrors deception in the bill is the watered down version of Ron Paul's Audit The Fed bill, which is left as a shadow of its original self. In its place is an absurd regulation that allows the GAO to audit only non-monetary-policy activities of the Fed two years after the fact...useless for supporters of the original Paul bill who wanted to find out what the Fed has really been up to over the years.
It's clear to me that until we press for the legalization of gold and silver for use as money, nothing substantial will happen to address any of the issues I've raised here. I've long been concerned about the fact that the liberty movement, for the most part, doesn't even know what USC 18-486 says or that it even exists. While many people in the movement now favor auditing the Federal Reserve's monetary policies and eliminating legal tender laws, it is quite apparent to me that most people don't realize that it is currently illegal in this country to use gold or silver coins as money.
Some may argue that the government issues gold and silver eagle coins, and that they're legal tender. While theoretically true, the argument is practically absurd, because the government refuses to mint anywhere near enough of these coins to create an actual hard money supply. The U.S. Mint even admits on their website that the only reason they issue these coins at all is for numismatic and investment purposes. The first sentence on their home page (as of this date) says, "American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins are affordable investments, beautiful collectibles, thoughtful gifts and memorable incentives or rewards." Notice that there is no mention of using these coins as money.
I think this needs to be changed before the coming monetary meltdown occurs. Rest assured, it will occur. The next round of economic insanity with occur in late 2011. I predict it will be called something like Financial Crisis II -- the sequel. That's when all the Option-ARM and Alt-A mortgage resets will peak, at roughly the same level that the subprime mortgages peaked in the fall of 2008. Even this crisis may not produce the final meltdown, but it will certainly bring us a giant step closer to that ultimate catastrophe. Given this reality, it is irresponsible to not allow gold and silver to be used as money on a wide-scale basis starting right now.
For this reason, I've started an online petition to raise support and awareness for legalizing gold and silver for use as money. It includes an online poll where you can quickly register your support for repealing 18-486 and for using gold and silver as money. To sign the petition, simply post a message to the thread voicing your support. It doesn't take more than a minute or two, and it's really easy to do.
Help spread the word. Let's work to repeal 18-486 and give America a stable, reliable money supply that isn't prone to the manipulations of legalized fraud which enable the bankers and their politician cronies to continue the practice of systematically cheating all of mankind out of their hard earned money.
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Article I Section 10 of the US constitution says; No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; ....
So USC 18-486 is unconstitutional. This sounds like a good case for nullification.
Posted By: DaveGillie
Date: December 16, 2010 02:03:29 PM
I can read, and when I read USC 18, 486 it STATES gold silver coins designed to LOOK LIKE GOVERNMENT COINS is illegal.
This clealy does NOT mean ANY use of Gold/Silver AS MONEY is illegal. and it does not elsewhere say anything remote to that effect.
Now, enforcement by jealous power hungry corrupt FEDS MAY claim otherwise, but put the blame where it belongs, on THEM and NOT on this section of law.
