Big bankers despise the gold standard because it limits their profits and power. They claim an insufficient amount of gold exists to support an expanding economy. However, much of the expansion of the U.S. economy since the Second World War has consisted in significant measure of the financing of war, the underwriting of the preparations for war, and the manipulations and profiteering on the ballooning debt. How much unnecessary warfare has been occurring in the world because bankers everywhere make unlimited debt-financing available for it?
Gold and silver are both mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers believed that the inclusion of these metals in our monetary system was vital to good governance. If valued appropriately, the metals could support an expanding economy that, unlike warfare spending, produces real returns and benefits, while providing powerful regulation over both the quantity and the quality of debt.
The Federal Reserve, our central bank, is a private corporation that creates money out of nothing but the legal requirement for repayment. The money is handed over to private bankers at very low interest rates, and subsequently loaned to us at much higher rates. Bankers and financiers, faced with the fact that their assets have no underlying value, felt compelled to reduce risk as well as to manipulate the situation for purposes of speculation and further skimming. They insured their assets through a complex scheme of derivatives and credit default swaps. The scheme, now unraveling, was a byproduct of our monetary system.
Be assured that our interests are being ignored if the subject of monetary reform is not on the table next week in Washington.
There are sound alternatives and good ways out of this mess. The process could be raucous and nasty. Vested interests will accuse the reformers of being socialists and un-American left-wingers. The people need to decide. We must understand what's at stake, develop our own good sense of reality, take better care of ourselves, and support what's right for the country.
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