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Guest Post: Money And The State

Tyler Durden's picture




 

The next in a continuing series (most recently: Positively Wrong: Positivism, That Is)

Money and the State

by Free Radical

It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. – Henry Ford

Once the domain of society – of the cooperative interaction that is its natural mode of economic organization and integration – the control of money has been usurped by the state and accordingly monopolized. Moreover, the monopolization is now a fait accompli due the state’s abandonment of gold, or any other commodity, as the monetary standard. Money has been positivized, in other words, in that it is now created not by “voluntary agreement between the parties immediately affected”  but by the authoritarian degree of a third party. And it is because of this positivization that society’s money has effectively been stolen from it, toppling the first of civilization’s twin pillars.

How could this happen? How could the state get away with stealing society’s money?
“For the étatist, money is a creature of the state,”  and surely one of the greatest tragedies of our time is that the people, in their unwitting acceptance of monetary positiv-ism, are statists themselves, if only as pawns in a game that has been rigged utterly and completely against them. For so meager and confused is the people’s understanding of money that it is inconceivable to them that “all money has originated, and must originate, in a useful commodity chosen by the free market as a medium of exchange;”  that the state is accordingly “powerless to create money for the economy;”  that the first act of every sufficiently large state is “to seize an absolute monopoly of the minting business” as the “indispensable means of getting control of the coinage supply;”  that “inflation, being a fraudulent invasion of property, could not take place on the free market;”  that with the creation of a central bank, all banks become, by extension, “arms of the govern-ment;”  that “Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly” is not capitalism but communism;  that by going off the gold standard and issuing only fiat money, the state is simply issuing “paper … with nothing but paper backing;”  that the globalization of this system consti-tutes “the most gigantic trust [cartel] on earth;”  that the kingpin of this cartel is the United States Federal Reserve System; that the Federal Reserve can “never add anything to our capital structure, or to the formation of capital, because it is organized to produce credit;”  that a monetary system based on credit is a monetary system based on debt; and that the United States Government, which had virtually no debt prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve, is now approaching $14 trillion in debt. Moreover, when the gov-ernment’s unfunded welfare and related liabilities are factored in, the country is facing a fiscal gap of $202 trillion, amounting over $650,000, and counting, for every man, woman, and child in America.
Because these debts can never be repaid and will instead be variously inflated away by the Federal Reserve and defaulted on by the Treasury, the American people will pay the price through the devaluation of the government’s monopoly money on the one hand – money, let us be clear, that has already lost over 97% of its value – and through broken government promises on the other.

Moreover, as the government’s money metastasizes, so do its laws. And were the people to understand that the latter are no less fraudulent than the former, they would run from legal positivism as fast as they will soon be running from monetary positivism.

So to legal positivism we turn in my next submission: “Law and the State”

 


  Bruce L. Benson, The Enterprise of Law, Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, 1990, p. 12.
  Ludwig von Mises, The Theory of Money and Credit, LibertyClassics, p. 277.  Online at The Mises Institute here.
  Ibid., p. 53.
  Ibid., p. 19
  Ibid., p. 62
  Ibid., p. 54.
  Ibid., p. 72.
  Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, 1848, Washington Square Press, 1964, p. 94.
  Eustace Mullins, Secrets of the Federal Reserve, Kasper and Horton, 1952, p. 202.
  Congressman Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Sr., arguing against the Federal Reserve Act after its passage in 1913, as quoted by Eustace Mullins in Secrets of the Federal Reserve, p. 15.
  Ibid., p. 118.

 

 

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Wed, 01/05/2011 - 21:22 | 851198 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

Great work thanks.

One small quibble with this:

 “all money has originated, and must originate, in a useful commodity chosen by the free market as a medium of exchange;”

I'm not sure who the quote is from but I don't think that money needs to be originated with a "useful" commodity. Unless you include jewelry and ornament as a use, gold has been mostly useless in its history.  

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 22:39 | 851368 Drag Racer
Drag Racer's picture

I'm not sure who the quote is from

my first guess was Bastiat then I looked at your user name and had to laugh...

Then I remembered it was Rothbard.

http://mises.org/money/2s13.asp

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 22:44 | 851387 Drag Racer
Drag Racer's picture

Inflation, being a fraudulent invasion of property, could not take place on the free market.

from the link I posted above and one of my most favorite quotes relevant to todays situation.

Thu, 01/06/2011 - 09:13 | 851938 Voluntary Exchange
Voluntary Exchange's picture

The Story of your enslavement:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbp6umQT58A

 

The sunset of the State:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLCEXtpTNYU

Thu, 01/06/2011 - 08:57 | 852038 Bitch Tits
Bitch Tits's picture

Other than its uses in industry, electronics, computers, medicine and so forth. Gold is useful, but money is money, whether it is gold, paper, or pure faith.

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 21:34 | 851226 gwar5
gwar5's picture

Monopoly of money is right.

We know about capital controls, and the new 1099 requirements, but the consumer protection agency run out of the Bernank Fed also tracks all economic transactions and limits private credit and investments "for our protection."  No congressional oversight. Example, an orthodontist may not provide credit to patients and recieve payments for a child's braces.

None of it feels good. Is all non-FRN economic activity going to be extincted? 

Thu, 01/06/2011 - 00:38 | 851610 Things that go bump
Things that go bump's picture

With regard to the 1099 requirement, can you not mail their copy to the IRS rather than the computer entry they would prefer.  Any business done with the IRS aught not to be done by computer.  Send them paper and lots of it.  Bog them down.  Handling all that paper and the data entry alone might at least slow them down some.   The IRS is not your friend, why would you make their work easier for them.  What a bunch of rubes we are.  

Thu, 01/06/2011 - 01:08 | 851667 gwar5
gwar5's picture

Good idea.

But I hope they change the 1099 rules. It's madness

Like all impossible rules, it's shakedown ammo

An excuse to confiscate and coerce obedience

 

 

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 21:34 | 851227 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

Not a case as much as a statement of fact; very succinctly put.  I agree completely.

Of course they will inflate it away.  Inflation is theft, and bankers are thieves.

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 21:37 | 851239 THE DORK OF CORK
THE DORK OF CORK's picture

Amen to that - and I am a Statist Republican to boot !

 

This truely is a strange world of fiatascos.

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 21:42 | 851255 Catullus
Catullus's picture

I like to think of the basic social interaction of money like the basic social interaction of language.  If the state created a language, no one would speak it.  And language developed much in the same way money develops, through millions of exchanges and interactions over centuries.  There was no central planned language ever.  And there soon will no longer be centrally planned monies.

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 21:44 | 851260 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

First off, Tyler you out did yourself today. Thank you. Still absorbing your vast tidbits of new knowledge.

Next, there is something called CAFR (comprehensive annual financial report). Recently the mouth breathing media talks about state defaults. Here's one example.


The state most likely to default? Not California, say swaps

http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20101228/FREE/101229951

I'll choose Illinois as example to brazen the next MSM crisis spin. Please go back thru each year. It's easy to spot the dark pools. Wink, wink.

http://www.ioc.state.il.us/library/cr.cfm

Kindly look up your own state, conduct an audit.

Tyler's thread reminded me of this old video I watched some time back.

CAFR "The" Government Shell Game of all time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2k_i17-dig

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 21:46 | 851263 Misean
Misean's picture

History shows that all fiat currencies collapse...so yay!

History also shows what happens to society when they do...so...not so yay!

Grumble...

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 23:06 | 851426 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

Succinctly said.

ORI

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 21:49 | 851267 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

I have a bit of an issue with the statement: "the state is simply issuing “paper … with nothing but paper backing;”.  The state backs up the paper money with police, the justice system and the military.  Prison is the destination for citizens who try to go around the paper money system, and air strikes and violent overthrow are the result of country's failing to trade in the paper currency.  That is a lot of backing.

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 22:03 | 851287 akak
akak's picture

Where do I go to redeem my paper bills for their fraction of police and military backing?  Because I would like very much to retire that portion of both which is supposedly backed by my money with all possible haste.

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 21:52 | 851282 akak
akak's picture

It is as imperative --- no, I would say MUCH more imperative --- that we as a society demand the separation of money and the State, much as we acknowledge the importance of the separation of church and state (except in a few bible-belt backwaters).

Fiat (i.e., government) money is theft, pure and simple.  And not just a one-time theft, but an ongoing and insidious theft.

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 22:29 | 851335 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Apparently the 'Network' forgot to inform you about the new policies.

Pope Benedict XVI has released a new set of regulations governing all financial transactions by the Vatican and bringing the Holy See into line with new European banking standards to prevent money-laundering and other forms of fraudulent banking transactions.

The new Vatican rules, set forth in a motu proprio released on December 30, come at the end of a year marked by complaints that the Vatican bank, the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), had been involved in questionable money transfers. In September, Italian banking authorities seized €23 million in funds from the IOR as part of money-laundering investigation. Italian courts have rejected the Vatican’s bids to free those funds, authorizing the investigation to continue.

By issuing the new regulations, the Vatican meets a December 31 deadline for compliance with new European banking regulations. Without meeting those European standards, the Vatican might not have been able to continue its participation in European monetary accords.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=8757

Why does this matter?.. Opus Dei/Legatus

Watching for indicators, pilgrimage begins Feb 3-5, 2011 in sunny Naples, Fl.

Someone needs to quietly pass the bean to another shell without anyone seeing.

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 22:03 | 851304 NOTW777
NOTW777's picture

general rule: government is evil, less is better

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 22:06 | 851306 GottaBKiddn
GottaBKiddn's picture

Wherever there is a central bank creating money it is being "Privatized", and the users of the currency are coerced by the government to use this private money. "Rothschildization", would be another name for the process.

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 22:11 | 851317 Dr. Gonzo
Dr. Gonzo's picture

So true. My guess is that these thoughts have not even occured to 99% of Americans . The other 1% profit from their ignorance. Much of America got suckered into buying into the dot com bubble and after they got burned they a something real so they got suckered into buying a  house during that bubble. Now they can't get rid of it even at a loss and they are stuck paying ever higher taxes to the bankrupt municipalities now. They always have a scam going to separate people from money and if they can't get hook them in a scam they get them with inflation. Fuck them. Buy gold.

Thu, 01/06/2011 - 09:32 | 852101 fredquimby
fredquimby's picture

Indeed.

I just went into UBS at lunch and robbed them of a 10 gram gold Kinebar for 441 bits of Swiss paper!! Woohooo, what a bargain!! :)

one of these badboys!

http://www.te-aurum.de/WebRoot/Store12/Shops/61817654/48B6/682C/1E1F/654...

Cheers!

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 22:12 | 851321 DonutBoy
DonutBoy's picture

Excellent.  Is there not a 4'th amendment argument that a seizure of the dollars in my bank account is taking place in their explicit devaluation by the government?  They are stealing from people on fixed-income, stealing from people who are too old to risk investing in stocks.  It's done subtly, but it is theft.

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 22:58 | 851409 blindman
blindman's picture

so criminal bankers and control fraud shysters have the people

convinced that the flaw lies in the concept of government. ( they are

very good at what they do. self serving bullshit with lipstick ).

  your government was stolen,  your money,

your culture, by slicks,  and you are now against the idea of government.?

get rid of government and the slicks remain,  control fraud remains, thieves

and psychopaths and deadly greed remain....  but, people with even less

reason or power to end / capture that.  maybe it is too far gone and the

dark ages beckon , ,,,,,,  

government is always such an easy target for the wrath

of criminals and victims alike,  and idealists.  and government

is a broad and inclusive enough term that it can absorb the

assaults  and then return the favor with impunity and even less

thought for consequences.

we suffer not from government but from fraud, control "free market"

fraud that created enough cash flow to capture "government" and turn

it into something else.  the first thing horders of gold will want is

protection of their horded gold by way of law and police.  / government.

and they will not pay for it in gold, but in fiat.  count on it.

different government that protects their property at others expense.

nothing free or radical, just anachronism. 

nothing against anyone in particular.  i'm just a lazy passive aggressive

obsessive compulsive who thinks that everything from or of man

amounts to nothing but self serving bullshit, from time to time.

except alka-seltzer,  that stuff works. 

so i will drink my alka-seltzer and wave my magic wand and eliminate

the government.  oh, but wait it is in vain as the world bankers have already

destroyed the federal government, enslaved in debt the others,  so why bother?

and hardly anyone noticed or cared.

the next development is the concept that every life is a self serving run on

cyber infomercial looking for cheaper broadband and more hits. 

maybe that's all wrong?  i'll read the piece again.

.

HOW The PHONY FIAT FEDERAL RESERVE Bankster SYSTEM "MONEY" Is CREATED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVvQdjK7eJc&NR=1

.

 

Wed, 01/05/2011 - 23:42 | 851503 blindman
Wed, 01/05/2011 - 23:54 | 851524 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

Anyone with too much positivism in their system should Google and read "The report from Iron Mountain".

As usual, it's publishing was accompanied by denials and rumors and JK Galbraith's I did/I didn't wooliness.

But, if you have not read it, and do, I assure you a lot of things happening around us will become crystal clear.

And crystal clarity is something we can all do with a little more of, in these days especially.

ORI

http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/stairwell-sigtar/

Thu, 01/06/2011 - 00:48 | 851626 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

Thanks for the links Blindman.

Quite eye-popping stuff.

ORI

Thu, 01/06/2011 - 07:22 | 851912 Grimbaldus The ...
Grimbaldus The Norman's picture

Instead of "tax evasion" I'm now calling it "Theft Evasion".

Thu, 01/06/2011 - 07:25 | 851916 FinanceSeer
FinanceSeer's picture

Yikes! That was convoluted. I figured it was MISESean thought, tho (decent enuff fellow with okay econometrics). Altho, the U.S. was indeed in debt "before" the FEDERAL RESERVE: to thier MOTHERLAND--ENGLAND. They had borrowed to finance both the CIVIL WAR and (bonded) SLAVERY...via the BANKS and the INSURANCE COMPANIES, i.e., East India, Lloyds of London, et al....But the gist of the piece is spot on!!

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