The Concept: A National Currency
The dollar is our accepted US currency, but it’s not issued by the Treasury. That responsibility has been given to The Federal Reserve and the (FED) was created by the federal government in 1913, largely to respond to a series of financial panics.
And get this, it was set up and approved after a secret meeting on Jekyll Island by Senator Nelson Aldrich (whose wealth came from insider investments in street railroads, sugar, rubber and banking) and representatives of the nation's top finance and industrial groups. A Jekyll and Hyde reference is too juicy to avoid.
It took a mere 20 years for this ‘response to financial panics’ to land us in The Great Depression. In any event, every 12 weeks the Fed gets its communal head together and decides on how to proceed with the American economy—in effect, the banks decide in their own interests and, secondarily, in the interests of the nation.
WIKIPEDIA: There is ongoing debate about whether central banks should target zero inflation (which would mean a constant value for the U.S. dollar over time) or low, stable inflation (which would mean a continuously but slowly declining value of the dollar over time, as is the case now).
In 1774 the dollar was worth a full buck and until 1913 it was still valued at 85 cents. Since the FED took over it dropped to 3 cents and I suppose you can call that a ‘slow decline’ if you wish. But in 1970 I bought a brand new Mercedes for $10,000 and the current model is $67,000 so I guess ‘slow’ is in the mind of the beholder. You younger folks have only seen it drop by half.
Should our currency be issued by the United States Treasury, some quite interesting things would be possible and thus we come to the heart of the matter—you knew I’d get there eventually. What if there were no interest on borrowed money?
Lenders would secure an ownership position in the underlying value of the loan until it was paid off. Corporations would shake themselves loose from ‘investor capital’ and go to the Treasury to finance a new plant, capital for a completing a contract or other expansion. That’s why they call it a treasury—there’s supposed to be treasure there that belongs to all of us.
Consumer credit-cards would disappear and we would only spend what we could afford. Home mortgages, automobiles and small business loans would be granted upon a perceived ability to pay—all at zero interest. One-time fees would service the system.
If you bought a house for $180,000, you’d pay it off in ten years for $1,500 a month (plus the service fee). Debt is not a killer, it’s interest on debt that makes paupers of us. With a 4% mortgage, that same house over ten years costs $44,000 in interest charges. For what? For a banker’s pocket.
President Abraham Lincoln printed ‘government currency’ at no interest to finance the Civil War. Shortly afterward, The London Times printed the following:
“If that mischievous financial policy, which had its origin in the North American Republic, should become indurated down to a fixture, then that Government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off debts and be without a debt. It will have all the money necessary to carry on its commerce. It will become prosperous beyond precedent in the history of the civilized governments of the world. The brains and the wealth of all countries will go to North America. That government must be destroyed, or it will destroy every monarchy on the globe.”
We once were (and could be again) ‘that Government.’ Interesting thought.
A hundred years later, President John Kennedy followed Lincoln’s path by Executive Order. Kennedy signed a presidential document that amended an order of September 19th, 1951, giving him legal clearance to create his own money to run the country--money that would belong to the people, an Interest and debt-free money.
He had United States Notes printed, completely ignoring the Federal Reserve Notes from the private banks of the Federal Reserve, issuing over $4 billion in cash money. He was out to undermine the Federal Reserve System of the United States. Five months later and a single day after Kennedy's assassination, all the notes, Kennedy had issued, were called out of circulation.
If you throw at me all the reasons this is not possible, let me quote a few who quite possibly have a greater reputation than mine (I do love quotations that support my opinions):
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks…will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered…. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
– Thomas Jefferson in the debate over the Re-charter of the Bank Bill (1809)
The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity.
-Abraham Lincoln
When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes… Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.
– Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, 1815
It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and money system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.
- Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from its profits or so dependent on its favors, that there will be no opposition from that class . . . Let me issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who writes the laws.
- Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild
I’ve run overtime on this column and apologize for that—interesting concept, though.