- Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce legislation to restore
financial stability to America's economy by abolishing the Federal Reserve.
I also ask unanimous consent to insert the attached article by Lew Rockwell,
president of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute, which explains the benefits
of abolishing the Fed and restoring the gold standard, into the record.
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- Since the creation of the Federal Reserve, middle and
working-class Americans have been victimized by a boom-and-bust monetary
policy. In addition, most Americans have suffered a steadily eroding purchasing
power because of the Federal Reserve's inflationary policies. This represents
a real, if hidden, tax imposed on the American people.
-
- From the Great Depression, to the stagflation of the
seventies, to the burst of the dotcom bubble last year, every economic
downturn suffered by the country over the last 80 years can be traced to
Federal Reserve policy. The Fed has followed a consistent policy of flooding
the economy with easy money, leading to a misallocation of resources and
an artificial "boom" followed by a recession or depression when
the Fed-created bubble bursts.
-
- With a stable currency, American exporters will no longer
be held hostage to an erratic monetary policy. Stabilizing the currency
will also give Americans new incentives to save as they will no longer
have to fear inflation eroding their savings. Those members concerned about
increasing America's exports or the low rate of savings should be enthusiastic
supporters of this legislation.
-
- Though the Federal Reserve policy harms the average American,
it benefits those in a position to take advantage of the cycles in monetary
policy. The main beneficiaries are those who receive access to artificially
inflated money and/or credit before the inflationary effects of the policy
impact the entire economy. Federal Reserve policies also benefit big spending
politicians who use the inflated currency created by the Fed to hide the
true costs of the welfare-warfare state. It is time for Congress to put
the interests of the American people ahead of the special interests and
their own appetite for big government.
-
- Abolishing the Federal Reserve will allow Congress to
reassert its constitutional authority over monetary policy. The United
States Constitution grants to Congress the authority to coin money and
regulate the value of the currency. The Constitution does not give Congress
the authority to delegate control over monetary policy to a central bank.
Furthermore, the Constitution certainly does not empower the federal government
to erode the American standard of living via an inflationary monetary policy.
-
- In fact, Congress' constitutional mandate regarding monetary
policy should only permit currency backed by stable commodities such as
silver and gold to be used as legal tender. Therefore, abolishing the Federal
Reserve and returning to a constitutional system will enable America to
return to the type of monetary system envisioned by our nation's founders:
one where the value of money is consistent because it is tied to a commodity
such as gold. Such a monetary system is the basis of a true free-market
economy.
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- In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand
up for working Americans by putting an end to the manipulation of the money
supply which erodes Americans' standard of living, enlarges big government,
and enriches well-connected elites, by cosponsoring my legislation to abolish
the Federal Reserve.
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- WHY GOLD?
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- By Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
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- As with all matters of investment, everything is clear
in hindsight. Had you bought gold mutual funds earlier this year, they
might have appreciated more than 100 percent. Gold has risen $60 since
March 2001 to the latest spot price of $326.
-
- Why wasn't it obvious? The Fed has been inflating the
dollar as never before, driving interest rates down to absurdly low levels,
even as the federal government has been pushing a mercantile trade policy,
and New York City, the hub of the world economy, continues to be threatened
by terrorism. The government is failing to prevent more successful attacks
by not backing down from foreign policy disasters and by not allowing planes
to arm themselves. These are all conditions that make gold particularly
attractive.
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- Or perhaps it is not so obvious why this is true. It's
been three decades since the dollar's tie to gold was completely severed,
to the hosannas of mainstream economists. There is no stash of gold held
by the Fed or the Treasury that backs our currency system. The government
owns gold but not as a monetary asset. It owns it the same way it owns
national parks and fighter planes. It's just another asset the government
keeps to itself.
-
- The dollar, and all our money, is nothing more and nothing
less than what it looks like: a cut piece of linen paper with fancy printing
on it. You can exchange it for other currency at a fixed rate and for any
good or service at a flexible rate. But there is no established exchange
rate between the dollar and gold, either at home or internationally.
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- The supply of money is not limited by the amount of gold.
Gold is just another good for which the dollar can be exchanged, and in
that sense is legally no different from a gallon of milk, a tank of gas,
or an hour of babysitting services.
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- Why, then, do people turn to gold in times like these?
What is gold used for? Yes, there are industrial uses and there are consumer
uses in jewelry and the like. But recessions and inflations don't cause
people to want to wear more jewelry or stock up on industrial metal. The
investor demand ultimately reflects consumer demand for gold. But that
still leaves us with the question of why the consumer demand exists in
the first place. Why gold and not sugar or wheat or something else?
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- There is no getting away from it: investor markets have
memories of the days when gold was money. In fact, in the whole history
of civilization, gold has served as the basic money of all people wherever
it's been available. Other precious metals have been valued and coined,
but gold always emerged on top in the great competition for what constitutes
the most valuable commodity of all.
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- There is nothing intrinsic about gold that makes it money.
It has certain properties that lend itself to monetary use, like portability,
divisibility, scarcity, durability, and uniformity. But these are just
descriptors of certain qualities of the metal, not explanations as to why
it became money. Gold became money for only one reason: because that's
what the markets chose.
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- Why isn't gold money now? Because governments destroyed
the gold standard. Why? Because they regarded it as too inflexible. To
be sure, monetary inflexibility is the friend of free markets. Without
the ability to create money out of nothing, governments tend to run tight
financial ships. Banks are more careful about the lending when they can't
rely on a lender of last resort with access to a money-creation machine
like the Fed.
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- A fixed money stock means that overall prices are generally
more stable. The problems of inflation and business cycles disappear entirely.
Under the gold standard, in fact, increased market productivity causes
prices to generally decline over time as the purchasing power of money
increases.
-
- In 1967, Alan Greenspan once wrote an article called
Gold and Economic Freedom. He wrote that:
- "An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold
standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem
to sense--perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders
of laissez-faire--that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that
the gold standard is an instrument of laissez-faire and that each implies
and requires the other. . . . This is the shabby secret of the welfare
statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for
the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process.
It stands as a protector of property rights."
-
- He was right. Gold and freedom go together. Gold money
is both the result of freedom and its leading protector. When money is
as good as gold, the government cannot manipulate the supply for its own
purposes. Just as the rule of law puts limits on the despotic use of police
power, a gold standard puts extreme limits on the government's ability
to spend, borrow, and otherwise create crazy unworkable programs. It is
forced to raise its revenue through taxation, not inflation, and generally
keep its house in order.
-
- Without the gold standard, government is free to work
with the Fed to inflate the currency without limit. Even in our own times,
we've seen governments do that and thereby spread mass misery.
-
- Now, all governments are stupid but not all are so stupid
as to pull stunts like this. Most of the time, governments are pleased
to inflate their currencies so long as they don't have to pay the price
in the form of mass bankruptcies, falling exchange rates, and inflation.
-
- In the real world, of course, there is a lag time between
cause and effect. The Fed has been inflating the currency at very high
levels for longer than a year. The consequences of this disastrous policy
are showing up only recently in the form of a falling dollar and higher
gold prices. And so what does the Fed do? It is pulling back now. For the
first time in nearly ten years, some measures of money (M2 and MZM) are
showing a falling money stock, which is likely to prompt a second dip in
the continuing recession.
-
- Greenspan now finds himself on the horns of a very serious
dilemma. If he continues to pull back on money, the economy could tip into
a serious recession. This is especially a danger given rising protectionism,
which mirrors the events of the early 1930s. On the other hand, a continuation
of the loose policy he has pursued for a year endangers the value of the
dollar overseas.
-
- How much easier matters were when we didn't have to rely
on the wisdom of exalted monetary central planners like Greenspan. Under
the gold standard, the supply of money regulated itself. The government
kept within limits. Banks were more cautious. Savings were high because
credit was tight and saving was rewarded. This approach to economics is
the foundation of a sustainable prosperity.
-
- We don't have that system now for the country or the
world, but individuals are showing their preferences once again. By driving
up the price of gold, prompting gold producers to become profitable again,
the people are expressing their lack of confidence in their leaders. They
have decided to protect themselves and not trust the state. That is the
hidden message behind the new luster of gold.
-
- Is a gold standard feasible again? Of course. The dollar
could be redefined in terms of gold. Interest rates would reflect the real
supply and demand for credit. We could shut down the Fed and we would never
need to worry again what the chairman of the Fed wanted. There was a time
when Greenspan was nostalgic for such a system. Investors of the world
have come to embrace this view even as Greenspan has completely abandoned
it.
-
- What keeps the gold standard from becoming a reality
again is the love of big government and war. If we ever fall in love with
freedom again, the gold standard will once more become a hot issue in public
debate.
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- http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2002/cr091002b.htm
-
-
- ABOLISH THE FEDERAL RESERVE
-
-
- Congressman Ron Paul
- U.S. House of Representatives
- September 10, 2002
-
- The mass media that is controlled by the Council on Foreign
Relations, Skull & Bones, and high freemasonry of the 33rd degree level
want you to believe that anyone who says there is a conspiracy for world
government and therefore destroy the Constitution is a quack. They use
such phrases as: oh, another conspiracy theorists; right wing nuts, etc.
-
- The mass media was used to destroy the credibility
of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s even though he only discovered
10% of the Communist infiltration into the U.S. State Department. Even
the Senate Subcommittee on Un-American Activities used the word conspiracy
in its findings.
-
- The key is: DISCREDIT ANYONE OF ANY CONSEQUENCE
WHO COMES AGAINST THE CONSPIRACY! That was testimony in the Alger Hiss
trial by a former Communist who left the conspiracy to fight and expose
Communism.
-
- All of the founding documents of the United
States make clear that WE, THE PEOPLE, were to be free to enjoy LIFE, LIBERTY
and PROPERTY.
-
- **LIFE increasing taxes starting in 1913 are sucking
the LIFE out of Americans.
-
- **LIBERTY Americans can be jailed for any infraction
or held hostage in jail until fines or taxes are paid.
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- **PROPERTY Bank accounts can be seized; homes,
automobiles and businesses seized to pay the ransom of taxes, penalties
and interest.
-
- How and why is this all happening to Americans?
It is all based upon the Communist Manifesto! The Ten Planks of the Communist
Manifesto are being enforced in America that usurps our Constitutional
Rights. This is being done BY OUR OWN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. WHEN THE GOVERNMENT
CONTROLS EVERYTHING THAT IS COMMUNISM!
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- 1st Plank of Communism: Abolish Private Property.
This is being accomplished by land use laws, property taxes, zoning laws,
environmental laws, etc.
-
- 2nd Plank of Communism: A heavy progressive
income tax. There was NO income tax until 1913 when it began at 1%, never
to go above 2%. What are you paying?
-
- 3rd Plank of Communism: Abolish all rights
of inheritance. Today, we have heavy legal and probate fees plus inheritance
taxes.
-
- 4th Plank of Communism: Confiscate all property
of emigrants and rebels (anyone who speaks out against the government).
Unconstitutional Regional Government has been installed which controls
all of the physical, social and economic assets of all the counties.
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- 5th Plank of Communism: Centralization of
Credit in the hands of the state. In America this was done in 1913 with
the Federal Reserve Act. At first, it was simply the International Bankers
who controlled the Federal Reserve; but by 1933, the U.S. was bankrupt
and these bankers foreclosed on America. They created a new form of government
called Socialism that has replaced our once Constitutional Republic. Public
Law 91-151 prohibits any person to extend credit without a special license:
a $1,000 fine or one year in prison could result (not yet enforced). A
Social Security number is required in a business transaction.
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- 6th Plank of Communism: Control all means
of Transportation and Communication. The mass media has been in the hands
of the Marxist Council on Foreign Relations for years [One of the Communist
Rules of Revolution was to get control of all media and use it for their
propaganda]. Presidential Executive Orders #10999 and #10995 provide for
the take-over of all transportation and communications. They provide for
the regulating of airlines, railroads, highways and the news media. Look
at Homeland Security and the military at airports.
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- 7th Plank of Communism: All production is
to be controlled BY the State. There is a massive number of federal guidelines
that industry must follow. The federal government is now involved in over
850 businesses. The Federal Bureaucracy forces farmers to grow [or not
grow] specific crops and sell them below production costs. No wonder thousands
of farmers leave the land every year and conglomerates take over. We have
Corporate Socialism in America!!!
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- 8th Plank of Communism: Equal liability of
ALL to labor. Women are forced out of the home to work just to survive.
Equal opportunity employment for both sexes. Executive Order #11000 will
force civilians into government work brigades.
-
- 9th Plank of Communism: Combine agriculture
with manufacturing, thus abolishing the distinction between town and country.
We have seen the emergence of Urban Renewal, Population Control, Metro
Councils, Regional Government Planning Programs, and the plans to eliminate
Counties, Local Government and State Borders.
-
- 10th Plank of Communism: Control ALL Education.
Federal "aid" to education means we have government-controlled
schools and curriculum.
-
- All Ten Planks of the Marxists' Communist
Manifesto are being forced upon us in America. Repent and cry out to God
for deliverance. Our Senators and Representatives seemed to have no concept
as to WHAT they are legislating upon our once FREE nation. If we continue
on our present course, America will fulfill the prophecy by a presidential
candidate in the 1930s that said they will give us small doses of Socialism
until we wake up one day to find we have Communism.
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