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Ok Guys, I defy you to tell me, "What is a dollar?"
You can't define it? It's sort of like trying to define a circular
stairway without using your hands, I guess. Maybe a dictionary will
help? Webster's New World Dictionary 3rd College Ed. says the dollar
is: "The basic monetary unit of the U.S., equal to 100 cents; symbol
$." 100 cents? What then is a "cent?" From the same dictionary, a cent
is : "A monetary unit of the U.S, equal to 1/100th of a dollar, penny."
Are we going around in circles? A dollar is 100 cents, and 100 cents is
a dollar. Not satisfying. Let's look elsewhere. Black's Legal
Dictionary gives almost the same exact definition of the dollar, that
is 100 cents, etc.
Well, how about silver dollars, which are no
longer made? Can we measure the buck by checking the contents of old
silver dollars? Silver dollar coins were made from 1794 on, with
various interruptions. The silver dollars were 90% pure silver and 10%
copper, to make them strong. Each silver dollar had .7736 of an ounce
of pure silver in it. At today's silver price, a silver dollar has
$9.90 worth of silver in it, so it is not a good investment tool, as
silver dollars usually more than twice that in today's market. From
1804 to 1836, no silver dollars were minted, as there was a severe
silver shortage. When the "Comstock Lode" was discovered in Virginia
City Nevada, in 1850, there was plenty of silver for silver dollars,
and tons of it was shipped down hill to the Carson City Mint, which
produced thousands of them till 1893, when the "crime of '93" was
committed, causing the mint to finally run out of silver by 1904, and
production ceased. Production resumed in 1921, stopped again in 1928,
and then resumed again for two more years, in 1934 and 1935. That was
it for the silver dollar… those made of silver anyway. Mints in New
Orleans, Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco, also made lots of
silver dollars.
Based on the extinct silver dollar, the buck may
be said to represent .7736 ounces of silver, but that's absurd of
course, because the dollar is a Federal Reserve Note, and is backed by
nothing, and represents not much more than debt owed by the US to the
Fed, which created the buck out of nothing, and paid the treasury to
print them. This is another fraud, of course. The Fed LOANS dollars to
the Treasury, and the Treasury (Bureau of Printing and Engraving)
prints them for the Fed, which loans them to the Treasury! The big
hearted Fed pays for the printing, so all is not a total loss. (That's
a joke son). Title 31, Subtitle IV, Chapter 51, Subchapter 1, defines
legal tender as: "UNITED STATES COINS AND CURRENCY ARE LEGAL TENDER FOR
ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC CHARGES, TAXES, AND DUES. Foreign gold and silver
coins are not legal tender for debts." (Note that the law does not say
that US Gold and Silver Eagles are not legal tender! Get the point, or
do I have to draw a diagram?) Note also that the word "dollar" is not
used in the title, so we can find no adequate definition of the dollar
there. The Bureau of Engraving's web site says "The BEP prints billions
of Federal Reserve Notes for delivery to the Federal Reserve System
each year. These notes are produced at our facilities in Washington
D.C. and Ft. Worth Texas." (They don't seem to produce dollars, but
only Federal Reserve Notes, or FRNs.
Black's Legal Dictionary says the FRNs are a,
"Form or currency issued by Federal Reserve Banks in the likeness of
non-interest bearing promissory notes payable to the bearer on demand.
The Federal Reserve Note is the most widely used paper currency. Such
reserve notes are direct obligations of the United States." The U.S. is
"obliged" to do what?
Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 1, defines it. "The
term "obligation or other security of the United States," includes all
bonds, certificates of indebtedness, national bank currency, Federal
Reserve notes, Federal Reserve bank notes, coupons, United States
Notes, Treasury notes, etc, etc. Federal Reserve notes are legal tender
currency notes. The twelve Federal Reserve Banks issue them into
circulation pursuant to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. A commercial
bank belonging to the Federal Reserve System can obtain Federal Reserve
notes from the Federal Reserve Bank in its district whenever it wishes.
Federal Reserve Banks obtain notes from our Bureau of Engraving and
Printing (BEP). It pays the BEP for the cost of producing the notes,
which then become liabilities of the Federal Reserve Banks and
obligations of the United States Government."
Now for a court's opinion: "Bank notes are the
representative of money, and circulate as such only by the general
consent and usage of the community. But this consent and usage are
based upon the convertibility of such notes into coin, and the pleasure
of the holder, upon their presentation to the bank for redemption. So
long as they are in fact what they purport to be, payable on demand,
common consent gives them the ordinary attributes of money." Westfall
vs. Braley, 10 Ohio 188, 75 Am. Dec. 509: If a note cannot be exchanged
for silver or gold, the court said, it has no "attributes of money."
Quite obviously, the dollar, .7736 ounce of
silver, for all practical purposes no longer exists. It has been
replaced by the Federal Reserve Note. Although the bill at the bottom,
still says "One Dollar," at the top it is titled a " Federal Reserve
Note." It is redeemable in 100 cents, and 100 cents is redeemable in
one dollar or Federal Reserve Note. Since it is the "dollar" which so
far is the world's 'reserve currency,' it behooves the Fed to stay with
the title of "dollar." The same old picture of George Washington is
still there, and on the reverse the Masonic symbol of the pyramid, the
Great Seal of the United States, and lots of fine engravings, fancy
paper which is supposedly non-counterfeitable, and of course, "In God
We Trust." It all seems so nice! So genuine, and historic! So strong
and dependable!
I hate to spoil your illusions, but it is merely
a piece of paper, which for all practical purposes is pure counterfeit.
The difference between FRN's printed in some private print shop or
duplicated on a color copier, is merely who turns them out! The buck
has become so worthless, that it isn't even being printed on the fancy
new papers on which the hundreds and fifties are being printed. So puny
that one will buy maybe a quart of gasoline. Not to bore you, but when
I was a lad, you could get five gallons of gasoline for a dollar. I
bought a new Mercedes in 1961 for 3700 of them. If one placed $3700 in
a bank at 1% interest, compounded quarterly, for 45 years, you would
have $5801.41. Try to buy a new Mercedes for $5801.41, which is what
you would have if you had SAVED IN DOLLARS FOR THE PAST 45 YEARS. Had
you saved in dollars, you would be at the point at which you would have
actually been de-capitalized, and be able to buy no car at all. A new
Mercedes would cost at least ten times what you would have, if you had
placed the cost of a new Mercedes in a savings account in 1961. As an
aside, when you deposit your dollars in a C.D. in a bank, they compound
your interest QUARTERLY, but when you borrow from a bank, or get a
mortgage, your interest is figured MONTHLY and daily even, for partial
months.
The dollar is but a shadow of its former self,
and it hasn't aged well. While it hasn't developed wrinkles and sags as
does the human body as it ages, it has but a pittance of its former
strength and viability. How long will the dollar remain the 'reserve'
currency of the world? How long will gold and oil be priced in dollars?
Just as long as the world desires it, accepts it, respects it, and
wants to use it. Kuwait just stopped taking dollars for their oil, in
spite of the fact that we saved them when Saddam invaded. We here in
America have no choice in the matter, as we must use the FRN dollar to
buy stuff. The world has the choice, and since most oil seems to be
gotten from Arab or Muslim nations, or at a minimum from those who no
longer respect America, will oil and gold eventually be priced in
euros? No one knows, but if the dollar ceases to be the world's
'reserve' currency, it will not be good for us here at home, as I am
certain all consumer prices will rise dramatically…in FRN dollars.
That's why I constantly urge you to cease saving in dollars. I guess
it's like a worn out record, but I really do wish you'd cease and
desist. Protect yourself! - Thanks to Court Jones, who assisted in the
research for this!
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