Thread: The Jackass Whisperer

"If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning." President Andrew Jackson, 1829

"A collective tyrant, spread over the length and breadth of the land, is no more acceptable than a single tyrant esconced on his thrown." Georges Clemenceau

"I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing." John Adams

"Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international money lenders....The accounts of the Federal Reserve System have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and...manipulates the credit of the United States. Sen. Barry Goldwater

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies." Thomas Jefferson

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and viscous, they have more need of masters." Ben Franklin

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issue power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." Thomas Jefferson

"No nation can call itself independent that cannot establish a financial system of its own. We abhor the pretense that this, the foremost, the richest and most powerful nation of the world, cannot coin its own money without suing for international agreement at the courts of European autocrats, who, having their primary interests to subserve, have for many years held out to us the idea before every presidential election that they would enter upon such an agreement and foiled every effort to obtain it afterward." Sen. John W. Daniel of Virginia

"The experiences of the American Banking system during the great war confirmed my view in every particular. The Federal Reserve Act, passed in 1913, had made possible the centralization of banking power. The war did the work. As Roger Babson recently stated the matter:

"In 1914 we had 30,000 banks, functioning in a great degree in independence of one another. Then came the Federal Reserve Act, and gave us the machinery for consolidation, and the emergency of five years' war furnished the hammer-blows to weld the structure into one."

From a book titled IMPERIAL WASHINGTON by R.F. Pettigrew 1922

More from Senator R. F. Pettigrew 1922

"Under the Federal Reserve Act the vast power of the thirty thousand American banks is concentrated in the hands of a little club with headquaters in Wall Street. This club holds in its hands the power to make or destroy any business man in the United States; the power to make or wreck financial institutions and inaugurate panics; the power to issue credit, and even money. The bankers at the center of the financial web are endowed with the power of government."

"The right to issue money is, as I have said, fundemental. This right is exercised by the New York Banker's Club, thinly disguised as the Federal Reserve Board. On November 3, 1920, the amount of Federal Reserve notes outstanding was $3,568,713,000."

"What was the basis of this huge issue of paper money? Commercial paper!"

"The member banks were permitted to lend money (or credit) to their patrons; to take commercial paper in exchange for their loans; to deposit this paper under the authority of the Board and to issue currency against it. This currency was again loaned out, the paper re-deposited, etc., so that the Federal Bank of New York was able to earn, by this pyramiding of credits, over 200 per cent in the frugal year of 1920, in a market where the rate of interest never ran over 8 per cent on standard securities."

"Through their authority over money and credit, the bankers thus became the arbiters of the business destiny of the United States. No one elected them. No one can recall them. There is no way in which they can be made the object of public approval or disapproval. They are as far above public responsibilty as was William Hohenzollern in Germany before 1914. Self- elected dictators of American life, they make and unmake; they wreck and they rule. They are the heart of business America; the center of the exploiting system that sits astride the necks of the people."

From the book Memorial Edition. Life and Work of James G. Blaine. by John Clark Ridpath, General Seldon Conner and other eminent friends copyright 1893

Notwithstanding all the gold recieved from California, it was found that we had not enough in the hour of panic to keep the banks, even the National Metropolis, from immediate suspension. Enterprises all over the country were checked; labor was thrown into confusion and distress, and the last three years men have been working for less renumeration than has been paid to honest toil at any period within the preceding quarter of a century. The policy of free trade, as embodied in the tariff of 1846, had in ten years, caused such a large importation of foreign goods that, besides all our shipments of produce and all the earnings of our commercial marine, it drained us of four hundred millions of gold to make good the balance of trade against us. I mean four hundred millions of gold, net, over and above the amount which in the currents of trade was occasionally shipped to us from Europe. The bankers of New York, the great majority of whom sustained the free-trade policy, were among the first to ask extension on their obligations. They could pay in their own bills, but the specie which should have been in their vaults had been sold by them for shipment abroad, to make good the balance which their favorite tariff of 1846 had constantly accumulated against us in Europe.

A foundation built upon sand, or All that glitters is not gold.

The gold standard has a bit of a misleading and complicated history. At one time, the money of the founder's could have been been called a silver standard, or could be viewed as bimetallism. Silver was king in this system, it led gold around by the nose, even though gold was worth more. Silver was treated as the standard due to the fact that if Congress wished to regulate the value of, then it would have been easier to call in the gold coins and adjust them in weight as there were many less in circulation than silver coins. The ratio having been 16 of silver to 1 of gold, therefore if the treasury had to adjust, it was simply easier to bring in the gold. Silver was also viewed as the metal of the common man, as he came in contact with much more silver than gold, gold being the metal of the wealthy.

'Concerning economics, there is no difference between socialism and communism.' von Mises

When you look at fiats (paper pulled from thin air) vs. a gold standard, the key to keep in mind is "free will." Free will is where the concept of honest money starts to go awry. Honest money requires honest men to administer the money supply. Gold being a naturally occurring mineral with a limited amount being present at any given time is a more honest standard due to the fact that the alchemist of old have never been able to turn lead into gold, gold has natural limitations beyond man's control. Yet gold like any other thing or concept that men touch can be corupted. It can be shaved, intentionally hoarded, manipulated on the market or mixed with something less than pure.

Progressives are communist or socialists or fascists,........they are dishonest and tyrants. Who better to advocate a fiat backed by nothing other than faith in MAN, or force if faith does not cut the mustard! A fiat, paper currency not linked to a standard commodity is very easy to manipulate by the actions of MEN. are they honest? Paper currency can be ordered to be printed at any time. Gold is mined and honest sweat and toil bring it from the ground. Paper printed is a progressives dream. It allows for deficiets to buy social programs. The social programs lead to where? Now throw in the latest technology, the computer, and the money supply can be increased by hitting a few key board keys, and moving some decimals around. Viola, instant wealth to buy your next social program. It leads to tyranny. What looks like communism will more than likely prove to be fascism. Greed requires as much.

It took much time to leave a commodity based currency, many attempts over the years. With little oversight and a fiat currency, corruption and bubbles were bound to be the order of the day. It is much easier to buy programs and politicians, and citizens with paper than gold.

"The spirit of our times will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless. They will be forgotten and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights." Thomas Jefferson

From the time of the second issue (in July) to the end of 1862 the paper steadily depreciated until a dollar of paper was equal to only 66 1/3 cents of gold coin. This had its effects on prices, for, instead of paying a dollar in gold for a pair of gloves, one was forced to give the paper equivalent of gold, or $1.50 in paper. Thus the general level of prices expressed in paper rose. Then followed the result which has regularly occurred in the history of previous issues of inconvertible paper money. Since prices had risen greatly, it required more money to perform the exchanges of goods than before ; so that, very soon after an issue of paper money, people began, strangely enough, to complain of the scarcity of money. Like the use of intoxicants, the more one takes, the more one wants. The rise of prices led people to think that, by buying goods and holding them for higher prices, they could make a profitable speculation ; so this speculative demand for goods raised prices still more than they would have risen owing solely to the quantity of the paper. Consequently, at times there seemed to be an insufficient supply of money. Instead, however, of seeing that this seeming scarcity was due to the unsettling of prices by the issuing the paper, the generally clamored for more money to relieve the scarcity. This, however, would, if issued, have increased the difficulty still more. In this way the emissions of paper led to a disorganization of legitimate business, and brought about an era of speculation, stock - gambling, and extravagance which produced results wholly unforeseen when the first issue was made.

The above passage is from a book titled ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY by LAUGHLIN copyright 1887, this being the 1915 edition.

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"He says that we are opposing the national bank currency. It is true. If you will read what Thomas Benton said you will find that he said that in searching history he could find but one parallel to Andrew Jackson. That was Cicero, who destroyed the conspiracy of Cataline and saved Rome. He did for Rome what Jackson did when he destroyed the bank conspiracy and saved America.

We say that in our platform that we believe that the right to coin money and issue money is a function of the Government. We believe it. We believe it is a part of sovereignty and can no more with safety be delegated to private individuals than we could afford to delegate to private individuals the power to make penal statutes or levy laws for taxation. Mr. Jefferson, who was once regarded as a good Democratic authority, seems to have a different opinion from the gentlemen who have addressed us on the part of the minority. Those who are opposed to the proposition tell us that the issue of paper money is a function of the bank and that the Government ought to go out of the banking business.

I stand with Jefferson rather than with them and tell them, as he did, that the banks ought to go out of the Government business"

A statement from the silver Democrats March 1895