Sep 2007
The Only Change That Matters
These Presidential candidates bloviating about how they're going to change policies in America are conning the bee Jesus out of you. Yet, none of you really asks the question critical thinking requires, i.e., "... how much crap can I absorb through my air head?" Apparently tons and tons since you've gathered by the millions to hear the word "change" but, because of your 30 second span of attention you can't ask the really critical question---"What is the most important change you will support to restore America?"
Any candidate that starts his or her response with, health care, education, employment, ending the wars, rebuilding bi-partisan problem solving, etc. are just blowing smoke up your "nether region."
Unless a candidate is prepared to recognize and admit that Congress representing all of us as a body politic, does not control our currency as authorized by the Constitution, then there is no way they can begin to change anything which will move America to a more prosperous, free, and solvent society.
The single most important change any President can make in the next Administration is, therefore, to restore to the Congress control of our currency, and the management of interest rate policy. This control is now and, has been, since 1913, in the hands of the 4-600 private families, (American and foreign) that own the Federal Reserve System of banks. They tell the mint to print money, then loan it to the Government at interest. Prior to 1913, the Treasury printed the money but did not loan it to itself. There was no debt associated with the creation of currency to meet the obligations of business and government. Since neither the Executive Branch nor the Congress has oversight of the Fed it can do what it chooses with respect to interest rates and the supply of money. These two factors are the primary instruments through which the Fed has created both perpetual inflation and infinite debt for the American public.
How would you like to have control of the creation of money as part of your business plan? You'd print up a million $100 bills. Then loan them to the Federal Government for say 1.5% for anywhere from 1 year to 30 years. You'd never have to worry about cash flow because you'd have an infinite demand since the government must maintain the defense/security, commerce, education and social safety net for its citizens.
You seized this authority by subterfuge and lies, you had to trick an unsuspecting President (Woodrow Wilson) into signing an unconstitutional transfer of Constitutional authority from the Congress to you and your private group of bankers. With no Congressional or Executive Office oversight or veto power of what you do and decide, you'd dominate your industry and charge monopoly prices for your products and services.
Now, you have control of the creation, value, and amount of currency distributed. You know the government will always be in debt to you. You can set interest rates to affect savings and lending by every segment of the population. When you have a mind you can tighten or loosen the money supply to create inflation and/or recession.
You will control massive amounts of assets that would not otherwise occur, because you will make certain that dumping dollars into your banks at a rate that allows them to loan $10 for every $1 you give them at discounted rates. You'll have a lot of money chasing after consumers in need of homes and cars, etc. They will pay your banks high rates of interest, so that the banks have enough to pay you back for the $1 you loaned to them, a win-win for you and the banks. The consumer gets inflated values which cheapen assets and of course ad long term debt. Just check out the impact of inflation on your assets by clicking:
http://minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/
Therefore, CHANGE then means gaining control of our society through the restoration of Constitutional control of our currency. Anything else the candidates claim to be a more important priority is purely a cop out.
How can anyone claim to fund: a better health care system, universal education through graduate school, expanded research in alternative renewable energy, and restoration of our infrastructure. And, at the same time, reduce the national debt, when the entire process of financing these priorities is a deficit financing, inflation enhancing operation?
The specific "Changes" we need are the elimination of interest payments to the Central Bank known as the Federal Reserve System . If there is resistance to abolishing the Fed, then at least abolish the practice of paying the Fed interest on fiat money (paper in the form of ‘notes’ printed and issued with only the ‘good faith of the Federal Reserve as a guarantee of redemption for the face amount of the note. Prior to 1971 we could redeem paper money for gold.) Next force the Fed toestablish a fractional reserve policy at 3:1 rather than the current 10:1 plus fractional reserve policy. This ratio is often exceeded during "tough" times to insure liquidity for the big players who gamble to freely in derivatives and junk bonds. Forget about bailouts for us plain folks.
In 2006 "we the people" paid the Fed $400 + million in interest, and administrative payments. The Fed creates money out of thin air and charges the government for it. Are we stupid or what?
By the by, the 1921 income tax legislation was forced on us primarily as a way to insure that the Fed would get paid with "real" money, rather than the Fed just having money printed to pay itself, because income tax revenue paid to the Fed reduces liquidity and therefore, the rate of inflation which would skyrocket if the gov just printed money to pay the Fed or any other creditor.
We have not heard the 08’ front runners supporting this Ron Paul/Dennis Kucinich argument to dissolve the Fed. The likelihood that they will is zero to none. Ergo, there will be no substantive change moving America to a more balanced, fair, solvent society. Our children and grandchildren will inherit a crushing debt, soaring inflation, a worthless dollar. Indeed our progeny may well be reduced to financial transactions which include currencies other than the dollar. Today’s dollar is worth less than a penny in 1972 dollars, and in current dollars it's worth less than 25 cents.
We can extricate our nation from these economic calamities only if we have a courageous leader who can:
First, educate Americans on the nature of the financial/economic crisis we face now and long into the future.
Second, convince the public and collaborate with Congress on the critical necessity to enact a new system for generating revenue with which to finance the commons and in real terms reduce the national debt.
Third, restore to the Congress its constitutional authority for managing our currency and interest rates. (see above discussion.)
1. EDUCATING AMERICA -- OUR FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS
Americans need to understand some of the negative effects of broad economic trends. Courageous candidates would first teach us that our economy is no longer as impervious to global or domestic dysfunction as in the past.
They can begin with the reasons for and impact of:
a. slower economic growth, and America becoming a debtor rather than a creditor nation
b. exporting U.S. jobs,
c. loss of manufacturing capacity
d. devaluation of the dollar
e. massive increases in our national debt, and
f. long term degeneration in middle class status
2. A NEW SYSTEM FOR GENERATING REVENUE
When taxpayers write checks for everything they consume or use as a service we layout approximately $.32 for every dollar we earn. That’s a tax rate of 32% which includes federal, State, County, City, Town, Village, sales, utility fees and taxes. Yet we seem to run huge deficits every year. We pay $300 billion to administer this income tax system. We also, spend billions trying to understand and comply with this system.
Changing it to a more rationale system may not be as difficult as it seems at first glance. If a strong President understood that there is only limited opposition to a major alternative to the income tax there would be a strong likelihood that a reasonable replacement could become a reality.
The alternative could be a progressive consumption tax. It would provide significant relief for those at or below the poverty level. There would be no tax on income for individuals or corporations who save and invest. Today since most Americans have negative savings the tax would be equivalent to an income tax. Because income minus savings equals the amount we consume/spend for the stuff we "need." Since there would be no income tax, there would be no need for deductions and allowances.
"Fair Not Flat", How To Make The Tax System Better And Simpler,
by Edward J. McCafferty