What would you do, if you knew that all the money you ever paid in income tax, didnt go to the government. How would you feel if when you paid those taxes, it went to buy someone a three-billion dollar yaught, and not one cent went to any program designed to help those that couldn't help themselves?
I dont know about you, but me.... Im fucking PISSED.
A few years ago I discovered something. A secret of sorts. The kind of secret that makes normally good natured citizens angry enough to do something violent and irrational. No, Im not about to go to a pawnshop, and buy a gun. Nor am I going to attempt build some pipebomb in my basement. (Besides, with the amount of meds Im on, Id probably only succeed in blowing myself up). Im not a revolutionary. Im definately not part of a militia. Probably because camoflauge and John Deere hats dont look that great on me. I have never associated myself with neo-nazis, kool-aid drinking cultists, or bigoted old white guys that patrol our border looking for people who's only crime is trying to find a better job in order to feed the ones they love.
In fact, I am EXTREMELY PROUD to be a citizen of the United States of America. I love this country. So much so, that I once defended my beloved nation as a sailor in the U.S.Navy. (A side effect being that I cant listen to the Village People). I love the fact that though our history as a nation is short, the impact of what we have done as a united people is staggering. Hell, I love football, VH1, McDonald's, the 4th of July, everything about the U.S. Well, everything except the Federal Reserve.
Thomas Jefferson said, "If the America people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currencies, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their prosperity until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
Did you know the Federal Reserve (FED) is not in fact "Federal"? It isnt a government agency at all.
The FED is a central bank. What central banks are supposed to do, is implement and improve a country's fiscal policies. They monitor commercial banks to ensure that they maintain sufficient assets, like cash, so as to remain stable. Or atleast that's what they're supposed to do. Private central banks, including our FED, operate not in the interest of the public good but for they're own profit.
Look at a dollar bill. Look closely at it. Feel the texture of it in your hand. Now I want you to know that your own government didnt make that piece of paper. They actually bought it from the FED.
From Greg Hobbs, in 1999:
"Almost everyone thinks that the money they pay in taxes goes to the US Treasury to pay for the expenses of the government. Do you want to know where your tax dollars really go? If you look at the back of any check made payable to the IRS you will see that it has been endorsed as "Pay Any F.R.B. Branch or Gen. Depository for Credit U.S. Treas. This is in Payment of U.S. Oblig." Yes, that's right, every dime you pay in income taxes is given to those private banking families, commonly known as the FED, tax free.
Like many of you, I had some difficulty with the concept of creating money from nothing. You may have heard the term "monetizing the debt," which is kind of the same thing. As an example, if the US Government wants to borrow $1 million (the government does borrow every dollar it spends) they go to the FED to borrow the money. The FED calls the Treasury and says print 10,000 Federal Reserve Notes (FRN) in units of one hundred dollars.
The Treasury charges the FED 2.3 cents for each note, for a total of $230 for the 10,000 FRNs. The FED then lends the $1 million to the government at face value plus interest. To add insult to injury, the government has to create a bond for $1 million as security for the loan. And the rich get richer. The above was just an example, because in reality the FED does not even print the money; it's just a computer entry in their accounting system."
The FED isnt even constitutional.... at ALL. In fact, Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution specifically says that Congress is the only body that can "coin money and regulate the value thereof." The US Constitution has never been amended to allow anyone other than Congress to coin and regulate currency. So how is it, that a privately owned BANK, is allowed to print OUR money?
The government granted its power to create money to the FED banks, in large part thanks to President Wilson, and Senator Aldritch in 1910. So the FED creates (from thin air, a better magic trick I havent seen) then they turn around and loan it back to the government while charging interest on it. The government then has no choice but to levy income taxes to pay the interest on the debt. Which is why the national debt will NEVER go away.
Both the Federal Reserve Act and the sixteenth amendment, which gave congress the power to collect income taxes, were both passed in 1913. And who says that congress can't be bought.
A separate aside. President John F. Kennedy once tried to end the evil of this corrupt institution.
http://www.john-f-kennedy.net/thefederalreserve.htm
Why hasn't anyone within our government in recent years tried to do anything about this? Why isn't this part of the political debates. How is this unknown by the majority of people I've met?
For more information:
http://federal-reserve.net
How on earth do you make money if it doesn't come out of thin air? Did you know that every bank in the world makes new money every time they give a loan?? The way that the Fed works is it loans money to banks, allowing them to meet their reserve requirement. They also have the ability to apply monetary policy. Now, the Fed is controlled by a board of Governors, 7 people with a 14 year term. Now, these governors have rolling terms so that the board isn't too heavily influenced by any certain presidency. Also, the governors are appointed by the president (just like Supreme Court Justices) so in that way it is involved with the government, the only difference is that the Fed is looking to keep the economy stable in the long run, they don't care about what one president wants to do because they'll be around longer than that president. Also, the reason that we have debt that we can't get out of is because the government chooses to continue spending exorbitantly instead of paying off debt. If they were to just print enough money to cover the debt, the value of the U.S. dollar would drop so drastically that the U.S. would be where Germany was after WWI, where it took a wheelbarrow full of marks (German currency) just to buy a loaf of bread. That much inflation = not good. The Fed is there to keep that from happening.
From Federal Reserve dot net.
Now, who do you think is responsible for all of the ups and downs in our economy over the last 85 years? Think about the depression of the late '20s and all through the '30s. The FED could have pumped lots of debt/money into the market to stimulate the economy and get the country back on track, but did they? No; in fact, they restricted the money supply quite severely. We all know the results that occurred from that action, don't we?
Why would the FED do this? During that period asset values and stocks were at rock bottom prices. Who do you think was buying everything at 10 cents on the dollar? I believe that it is referred to as consolidating the wealth. How many times have they already done this in the last 85 years?
Do you think they will do it again?
Just as an aside at this point, look at today's economy. Markets are declining. Why? Because the FED has been very liberal with its debt/credit/money. The market was hyper inflated. Who creates inflation? The FED. How does the FED deal with inflation? They restrict the debt/credit/money. What happens when they do that? The market collapses.
Several months back, after certain central banks said they would be selling large quantities of gold, the price of gold fell to a 25-year low of about $260 per ounce. The central banks then bought gold. After buying at the bottom, a group of 15 central banks announced that they would be restricting the amount of gold released into the market for the next five years. The price of gold went up $75.00 per ounce in just a few days. How many hundreds of billions of dollars did the central banks make with those two press releases?
Now.... my own thoughts. Do you honestly beleive that a privately owned BANK, without serious federal oversight has your best interests at heart?
Does any bank?
"so in that way it is involved with the government, the only difference is that the Fed is looking to keep the economy stable in the long run, they don't care about what one president wants to do because they'll be around longer than that president"
And nothing in that statement at all scares you? Really?
Germany after WWI had no backing for thier notes, thus J.F.K.'s plan to move to a silver standard is NOT EVEN CLOSE to the "wheelbarrow full of marks" example.
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"One of the things that draws writers to writing, is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life, by writing about them"
~ Tobias Wolffe
Your take on the federal reserve sounds pretty fishy. I'm fairly certain there is more to the story; let me pick up a few books and talk to my father, and I'll respond more intelligently.
Oh there's ALOT more to the story, the sad thing is as soon as anything is brought up about the Federal Reserve, the initial reaction is inevitably cries of "conspiracy theory". Its disheartening to see normally hardworking highly intelligent people willing to live in ignorance of what this corporation has perpetrated. I only hope that my fellow human beings, are curious enough to go looking through the material available and make thier own determinations.
Heres some sources:
Books:
The Creature From Jekyll Island - by G. Edward Griffin
The Truth in Money Book - by Theodore Thoren and Richard Walker
The 200 Year Debate - Who Shall Issue the Nation's Money? - by: Senator Jack Metcalf. (Note: SENATOR)
Billions for the Bankers, Debts for the People - The Real Cause Of Inflation - by: Sheldon Emry
Websites:
http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/5725
http://www.truthusa.org/articles/fed/fedtruth2004.htm
http://www.algaoaktree.com/MoneyMenu.htm
http://ecclesia.org/truth/reserve.html
http://www.fdrs.org/federal_reserve_system.html
http://www.geocities.com/northstarzone/FED.html
Movies:
Aaron Russo's - America: Freedom to Fascism
Zeitgeist, The Movie - Federal Reserve
Find out for yourself. Google it. I dont care at all whether or not you think Im right, or wrong. I would just be happy knowing that you'll do your own research, and then hopefully you too will write your congressman and ask why this is happening....
Personally I dont want my children growing up in a world where they will be in debt starting at the age of 3.
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"One of the things that draws writers to writing, is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life, by writing about them"
~ Tobias Wolffe
Unfortunately, you are wrong about at least two things:
1) The Fed is actually owned both publicly and privately, and controlled by the Board of Governors.
2) The Fed pays back the earned interest to the Treasury every year.
"1) The Fed is actually owned both publicly and privately, and controlled by the Board of Governors."
It shouldn't be owned privately AT ALL, I refer you to Article 6.
"2) The Fed pays back the earned interest to the Treasury every year."
Please cite the source that gave you that tidbit. I havent seen anything on the FED paying back earned interest.
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"One of the things that draws writers to writing, is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life, by writing about them"
~ Tobias Wolffe
Congress votes on the Board of Governor's membership. Private ownership is not a "bunch of bankers." It's actually a group of banks which hold stock in the Fed, as a way to support it. Annual dividends from these stocks are set at 6%, no more, no less.
http://federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/faq/faqfrs.htm#5
In 2006, the Federal Reserve transferred approximately $28.5 billion in earnings back to the Treasury.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/pf/pdf/pf_complete.pdf
http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/frseries/frseri.htm
The entire system is subject to audit at any time, and thanks to the Freedom of Information Act any citizen like yourself can check out it's budget for the previous year.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/rptcongress/budgetrev/br07.pdf
I think you are chasing a golden goose, my friend.
I ask you to cite your sources and you give me links from the federal reserve. Let me rephrase. CIte an independent source. Any independant source.
" Private ownership is not a "bunch of bankers." It's actually a group of banks"
Banks are made up of bankers.
I dont need to check out its budget. My arguement against the federal reserve rests on one ABSOLUTE fact: its unconstitutional.
Dont get me wrong, I appreciate the fact that someone is actually investigating my claim. I implore you to continue.
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"One of the things that draws writers to writing, is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life, by writing about them"
~ Tobias Wolffe
Where better to find information than the budget?
I argue that my resources are significantly more legitimate then yours; independent websites have more to gain from advertisements, whereas the budget can't lie. The pure, unadulterated numbers are far more useful than the rantings and ravings of conspiracy theorists.
Resources? You have ONE resource and its the FED in the first place. How could you not possibly see the bias in that?
Did you even go through all the sites listed. What about the books. One written by a Senator, one by the US Attorney General. Did you peruse anything I listed? Apparently not.
Also, a budget cannot lie??? S&L, Enron, need I name more?
I asked for you to cite an independent source, which you haven't done. Point in fact you've only continued with your same arguement. Using the Federal Reserves website, as a source to defend the FED with. You dont see an issue with that?
I like you thus far I really do. You seem to be an intelligent motivated individual. But if you're going to continue with statements like:
"far more useful than the rantings and ravings of conspiracy theorists."
"I think you're chasing a golden goose"
Then there isnt really any point in continuing this thread ,with you, in particular. Im not asking for your opnion, Im asking you to find out for yourself. If you dont believe any of this, fine, then just leave it at that. I wrote my blog, Ill defend my statements, Ill keep this in a manner befitting an intellectual debate. However, if you cannot even give me ONE credible, independent source that states UNEQUIVOCALLY that the FED is CONSTITUTIONALLY legal, then you have nothing more to say that warrants my attention. I apologize if that offends.
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"One of the things that draws writers to writing, is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life, by writing about them"
~ Tobias Wolffe
http://www.frbsf.org/education/activities/drecon/answerxml.cfm?selectedu...
http://news.goldseek.com/SpeculativeInvestor/1176217381.php
http://www.choicefinance.net/blog/2008/01/10/who-is-the-federal-reserve/
http://www.publiceye.org/conspire/flaherty/Federal_Reserve.html
http://famguardian.org/Subjects/MoneyBanking/FederalReserve/FRconspire/F...
http://forum.ebaumsworld.com/showthread.php?t=226144 (this one just entertained me)
Enjoy!
The last one is entertaining and taught me something else Im going to repost it just so everyone can get a gander.
And no you havent pissed me off. Quite the opposite, I think Im falling in love with you.
:-h
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"One of the things that draws writers to writing, is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life, by writing about them"
~ Tobias Wolffe
Do you want to put Congress in charge?
I have some misgivings about the Fed too. Whomever has the keys to the printing press has the power to do some enormous harm and they are in fact doing it. They have abandoned sound monetary policies put in place by Paul Volker in favor of Keysian short term manipulations of the sort that gave us misery in the 1970s. And as you say, they can essentially create money out of thin air with the multiplier effect.
But what is the alternative?
Congress has proven itself to be totally irresponsible both fiscally and in almost every other way imaginable. They spend far more money then they have. And when there is the inevitable shortfall, the Treasury, which IS a branch of the Federal Government, prints T-Bills and sells them. Printing T-Bills is essentially the exact same thing as printing money except they print them in much larger denominations.
As I look at the decades of deficit spending by our Congress and worse, the totally unsustainable level of their future entitlement committments which amount to a massive unfunded liability which can only be met with far more debt (currency printing) then has been issued so far, I can only conclude that compared to the US Congress, that the Federal Reserve Bankers are pikers and the model of sound practice. The abuses by the Federal Reserve are trivial compared to the irresponsibility of the US Congress.
And the sad thing is that there is not even an effort at fiscal responsibility in Congress. Most politicians running for Congress and particularly Democrats are promising vastly more spending on things like socialized medicine. And people, particulary poor people who will be most impacted when the currency is further debased, seem determined to vote for them. It is hard for me to feel sorry for them when their pain is self-inflicted. However I do feel sorry for myself because their stupidity in voting for people who promise to print money and debase our currency impacts me.
Given my druthers, we would still be on the gold standard. But given where we are now, I would choose the Federal Reserve over Congress.
I do agree with you on the vast ineptitude our congress tends to display.
I dont know what the true solution is. Im hoping that through discourse maybe one will arise. Maybe its a silver standard, like the one JFK planned for us. Maybe its a gold standard like our forefathers started for us. Hell, maybe its trading shells on necklaces, or even suddenly declaring that bullshit is legal tender. (Then we'd ALL be wealthy).
I dont have a fix. I just see a problem.
Im a disabled veteran now. I didnt fight for congress. I didnt fight for the president. I fought for you, for my family, and to uphold the Constitution.
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"One of the things that draws writers to writing, is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life, by writing about them"
~ Tobias Wolffe
geat blog......this was something I never knew....i'm goin to ask my uncle....he works for the federal reserve.
"my first name must be, "He aint sh@t", cause everytime I come through, yall be like "He aint sh@t"!....I'll be dat" --Redman
"Anything that can go wrong, Will go wrong"----Murphy's Law
I urge everyone to find the truth on this through whatever means available.
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"One of the things that draws writers to writing, is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life, by writing about them"
~ Tobias Wolffe
In regards to your argument on the constitutionality of the Federal Reserve, it is, in fact, constitutional. The Fed does not coin money, that is left to the Federal treasury and it does not regulate the value of money. The value of money was determined, long ago by the treasury. Now, if you're talking about buying power, then the Fed may have something to do with it, but it's more overall price levels that change that.
Here's Article 8, in its entirety:
Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;--And
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
Now heres dome facts from the FED balance sheet:
The Fed has over $11 billion in gold which is a holdover from the days the government used to back US Notes and Federal Reserve Notes with gold
The Fed holds almost a billion dollars in coinage not as a liability but as an asset.
The Fed holds $790 billion of the national debt.
The Fed has about $21 billion in assets from Overnight Repurchase agreements.
Do the math.....
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"One of the things that draws writers to writing, is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life, by writing about them"
~ Tobias Wolffe
Do you know why the Fed holds national debt? Because they bought it. When Congress wants to spend more money than they have, they sell bonds. The Fed and other banks buy these bonds. Technically, every dollar in your wallet is federal debt. I still hold with the fact that it's constitutional because it does not, in fact, do any of what is stated in Article 8. The treasury dept. coins money, congress deals with spending and borrowing. None of that is the Fed.