The year 2013 marks one significant anniversary that will probably be soft-pedaled by the mass media: December 23, 2013 will be the 100th anniversary of the exclusive private banking cartel known as The Federal Reserve–America’s central bank. I detest this organization. It isn’t Federal (not any more “Federal” than Federal Express), and it has no real Reserves.
Lex Mala, Lex Nulla
The Federal Reserve Act was improperly implemented as an act of congress. Properly, it should have been promulgated as a Constitutional amendment. Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution dictates: “No state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payments of debts.” And Article 1, Section 8 dictates: “Congress shall have power to coin money.” Neither of those clauses can be nullified without a Constitutional amendment. Rather than fitting in with the letter or intent of our Constitution, the Federal Reserve better matches the fifth plank (or “demand”) of the Communist Manifesto: “Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.” (Das Kommunistische Manifest, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, published in 1848.)
Dollar Destruction
Per Title 12 U.S.C. § 225, the Federal Reserve had three chartered objectives: creating maximum employment, assuring stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. But the Fed has pursued policies that are diametrically opposed to those chartered objectives. Rather than assuring stable prices they have consistently engaged in monetary policies that have gradually destroyed the purchasing power of the dollar, though currency inflation. The U.S. Inflation Calculator illustrates this gradual, insidious process.
Here is the long term effect of inflationist policies, in a nutshell: $1 worth of goods in 1913 terms now costs us $23.26 (based on official CPI data, rather than real world inflation.) Or, better put: A Dollar in silver coinage (four well-worn silver quarters with no collector’s value) now costs around $34 at your local coin shop. The Federal Reserve Note is funny money, plain and simple. Don’t expect stable prices. rather, expect the continuing destruction of the Dollar.
I’ve said it before: The Federal Reserve should be re-named the Feral Reserve. Their unconstitutional cartel is a wild beast that should be put down.
For further reading, I recommend the book The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve. – J.W.R.