What is a Dollar?

really excellent comments from everybody. i'm pretty new to the subject so just appreciating listening and taking in all of your ideas.

the founders of the country were unanimous against fiat money. so what happened? maybe this is more of a cultural or biological question than an economic one.

 

No. It makes perfect sense.

Having enough stashed away to live off for a few years is not paranoid, imo.

 

"What is a Dollar?"
I think recent events have made the answer pretty clear.
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what has to happen then, to ensure that america's next currency isn't another fiat, debt based currency?

fiat currencies seem to be inherently redistributive while awarding politicians too much latitude to tax invisibly and spend irresponsibly

it's interesting, larry kudlow and NPR both aired segments siding with the Liberty Dollar and against the FBI's recent seizure of its assets. i agree, monetary policies should have to compete for their continued existence, like everything and everyone else in a free market society. it's hard to argue that we have a free market when the actual money it's conducted with isn't itself competitive, but mandatory as a medium of exchange

 

A Dollar is debt, plain and simple.

It all starts when the Government borrows money from the Federal Reserve. The money that is loaned to the Government is simply created out of thin air by the Fed, and then loaned to the government at interest.

Next, the money is disseminated into the population, and eventually deposited in commercial banks. From there, banks have the ability to create even more money out of thin air, and loan it out at interest as well.

You see, when you take out a loan, banks are not loaning you other people’s deposits. Rather, banks simply use the amount of money they have on deposit as a multiplier in an equation that determines how much fiat currency they may simply invent out of thin air. Thus is the origin of money.

Banks have the option of depositing money into the fed themselves. This is considered “high powered” money, as the bank is then allowed to loan out 10 times the amount of money they have deposited at the Fed.

Banks are also allowed to loan out roughly 10% of the money that has been deposited in their own vaults. However, this is compounded and multiplied… each borrower receives a loan, and then writes a check to another person… and then that person deposits that same money in another bank… and then that bank uses that deposit to make another loan… and the process continues.

In the end - every dollar you have is a dollar that someone else owes to a bank. In fact, if all debts were repaid, there would be no more money in circulation, the banks would have all of it.

Essentially; a Dollar is a worthless, unconstitutional, illegal, piece of paper. However, as worthless as they may be, there is always an inherent demand for the Dollar based on the physical threat of imprisonment.

The government has decreed that taxes must be paid in Federal Reserve Notes. Those who fail to comply face imprisonment, which essentially creates an inherent demand for federal reserve notes amongst the US populace.

Secondly, with every dollar representing a debt, there is always somebody else out there that needs every dollar you have. Or else they face the threat of foreclosure, repossession, etc. These factors are what creates the demand for Dollars.

Now think about it - all money is debt, and there is interest on all that debt. However, seeing as how only the principal is created - Where does the money to pay the interest come from?

The answer; it doesn’t exist. That’s right, at any given time, the amount of money that society owes to the banking system is greater than the amount of money that exists. It’s a never ending perpetual debt that can never be repaid.

The economy only survives because of the time lag between the day a loan is first issued and the day the last payment becomes due. Hopefully, between those dates, other members of society have taken out additional loans and spent the capital into circulation.

This non-stop debt machine creates inflation, non-stop inflation, which is much higher than any of those ridiculous economic reports would have you believe. Things never get more expensive, a loaf of bread is always worth a loaf bread, in reality, the dollar is losing its value. There for, people are more and more dependent on debt to get by.

All those unsolicited credit cards you receive in the mail are just the systems desperate way of attempting to create more debt, and there for, more money… all of which is needed to repay the current debts.

Which brings me to another reason why there is a demand for the dollar. Inflation makes so many struggling families dependent on credit card debt, and they always need money to pay their credit cards, or else they lose their credit and a large part of their livelihood.


So, what is a dollar?

A dollar is a subtle form of indirect slavery… a debt… a worthless piece of paper… a physical threat against your freedom… and the fraud of the century…

Also, the dollar is backed by OPEC’s oil, which is a dollar denominated commodity. When China, for example, buys oil from OPEC, they pay for it with US Dollars, as do all other countries.

Might give you some perspective on current events.

Almost everything you’ve ever been told was a lie.

 

wealth is not psychological, only humans have split wealth

wealth means to have or own, you can still own other objects even if others don't exist, when others don't exist the amount of your wealth is dependent on what you can get from around you (and this in itself is dependent on 1. resources and 2. the entity's capabilities)

for example (in case no one else exists) your wealth in terms of 'apple tree leaves' is the number of 'apple tree leaves' you, yourself can get from apple trees that you can find, this means that if you can climb trees you can have more wealth in terms of 'apple tree leaves', and if you can walk farther to find more trees your 'apple tree leaves' wealth increases too, this also mean that your wealth (in terms of 'apple tree leaves') depends on the number of apple trees available within the area that you can access

you could build a mansion from that gold, wouldn't that be nice

but isn't that priceless, to be the only living entity, to own a planet?

anyhow imo if you can answer the question of 'how can everyone on earth be wealthy though not necessarily rich?' you will have a better understanding of wealth

 

The dollar is still 100% convertible to gold. Now, that gold supply is freely traded on the world's markets.

Many complain about the Gov't's monopoly of printing dollars, then argue for the government to also control the Gold supply backing that printing of dollars.

Nothing is worst then having the Govt "fix" the exchange rate of dollars to gold.

Seems that having the market determine the convertible value of dollars to gold is a more transparent to determine the real value of the dollar.

Of course the Govt. is free to print dollars at will.
In theory, if this causes an imbalance it would be reflected in interest rates and gold prices.

Currently higher gold prices are troublesome, but interest rates tell us that demand for dollars is at a safe level....for now