In a sensational interview President Barack Obama provided some deep insight into the monetary system: "The dollar is just an illusion" - the US currency was actually not worth anything. In the program "60 Minutes" of an US TV channel that is to be broadcast next sunday, the idea had actually been to put US President on the spot about the causes of the financial crisis and possible approaches to resolve it. But the assembled journalists were astonished to hear Obama tell them that the crisis was more deeply rooted than a lot of people thought. Specifically, Obama explained that the trigger for the financial crisis - the subprime crisis - wasn't actually a US-specific problem, but was a problem of the monetary system itself. This system involved compound interest effects that caused more and more debt, which in turn made it necessary to search for ever more debtors. The logical consequence therefore was that even people who were not credit-worthy were being lent huge amounts of dollars. Literally, Obama said: "Our money is an illusion." The group of journalists then asked him to elaborate. Obama did not hold back: "Money is nothing other than debt. The money that you carry in your pocket is other people's debt. Money only comes into existence through debt. And that is precisely the problem that we are having right now." A senior economist amongst those present questioned this stance, asking whether this meant that paying back money would also destroy money. Obama said that that was the case. Paying back debt destroyed money. That was also the reason why the dollar was running short and therefore increasing in value compared to other currencies: "Most loans are made in dollars. When these are paid back even in part, money is destroyed, and the dollar becomes scarce and expensive." That was the only reason why the greenback was rising against other currencies, because what was actually in people's interest was a weak dollar. But in his view the fundamental problem was the fact that the monetary system was reliant on ever-increasing debt levels. However, you could not take on debts without limitation. "That is precisely why we are in such a deep mess," were the US President's precise words. "Are you saying that money doesn't really exist in its pure form?" one journalist wanted to know. Obama nodded and said that that was precisely the case. And because everybody was indebted up to their limit now, the money in your pocket was practically worthless, and that's why we were having a big problem now. However, this wasn't just a dollar-specific problem, but a problem affecting all currencies. Complete article: http://www.mmnews.de/index.php/english-news/7593-obama-dollar-just-an-illusion-
the dollar is debt... it says so on its face. On the face of the dollar I am reading... Federal Reserve Note... A note is a promise to pay by the maker.... so we have a private bank (chartered by congress but not owned by congress) ... promising to pay one dollar to the bearer.... The note I am looking at is from the Chicago Bank.
It just show that he knows how the system works. All fiat currency is just an illusion. Worth no more than the collective holders think it is.
The USD is strong because the US economy is still the biggest in the world based on GDP. Countries in Africa like Zimbabwe would love to have strong currency like the US. The FED is printing Gold with quantitative easing.
Took the words out of my mouth (or the keystrokes off my keyboard in this case). As if we are supposed to believe that the most financially tone deaf President we've ever had in this country suddenly has the capacity to understand such abstract concepts as debt as money. Sorry, but this is a practical joke, plain and simple.
Is this supposed to be a continuation of the April Fool's joke? Russia's currency has already collapsed once in recent times, and China doesn't even have a currency.
Obama must have read debt and money somewhere. I have written "immense pressure from Bears". American congressman, Ron Paul has said "USA is bankrupt". Many millions of worldwide people are saying "USA is bankrupt". By the way what is "telepromter". If this is a joke, it is preview of Obama's future statement. Somebody can see future. I think everybody here has forgotten "World economy and Plane crash" http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=211616&perpage=6&pagenumber=1
C'mon, he is easily the most financially illiterate President we've had in recent memory. Unless it is written for him on the teleprompter, he's not about to dive into the details of high finance. And who exactly is going to let the cat out of the bag with regards to the fragility of the US Dollar? After all, it's been a full court press for the last decade to talk up the official position of a strong dollar while secretly doing everything to weaken the dollar and boost asset prices in turn.