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OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 4/21/09

Money - What is it?

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Bill Fangio
Message Bill Fangio
Money is a subject that often occupies the thoughts of each of us in one way or another. If we don't have any we are trying to figure out how to get some. If we do have some we have to concern ourselves with how best to spend or invest it. Even years ago as a Registered Representative for the State of Texas and the National Association of Securities Dealers I was astounded to learn how much money was invested and in circulation. Of course today with years of subsequent inflation and the recent expansion of spending by both government and the Federal Reserve central bank the supply of Federal Reserve Notes (FRN's) has burgeoned.


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1934 issue featuring Sec. Treasury Salmon Chase

That started me wondering what was this money stuff anyway? I remember the classic definition for money was a medium of exchange, a unit of measure, and a store of value. So, how does the FRN fit that definition? I just had lunch at the cafeteria and I gave the clerk a little over four of those FRN's in one dollar denominations and she accepted them. So, they do work as a medium of exchange, at least for now. (It was a small lunch.)

Then back at the office I took out one of the FRN's and looked at it. It measured 6.12 by 2.62 inches using my engineers scale. I understand it is made from a special paper and has embedded threads and uses special inks. I did not have a scale to weigh it, but it is safe to assume that both in area and weight all of these FRN's have the same physical properties regardless of the denomination. (One, Five, Ten, Twenty, Fifty, or One Hundred.) So the first question I had was how can these FRN's all have the same dimensions and weights but be more or less valuable? The answer had to be in the unit of measure.

That took me back to 1792 when Congress declared the Dollar to be our monetary unit of measure equivalent to 371.25 grains of pure silver. So, I realized that what I held in my hand was only a piece of paper but it had a value in silver equal to the number of dollars in which it was denominated. So, is it a unit of measure? If so, there has to be somewhere I could redeem it for the silver. But, if I take it to the office of issue, (in this case the Federal Reserve Bank), and ask to redeem it, all they will do is redeem it with a newer FRN of the same denomination. If you think that sounds funny, it is. Therefore, the FRN is not really a unit of measure.

Well, is it a store of value? If it cannot be redeemed in actual dollars then the store of value has to be intrinsic. The only intrinsic use for FRN's of any denomination would be for stuffing, wallpaper, or for kindling a good fire.

Therefore, the FRN is not really money.

So, how did we get in this fix? Simple; Congress failed to follow the Constitution according to Article 1 Section 8 and have added many coinage acts and abdicated their responsibility to coin money and regulate the value thereof by establishing the private Federal Reserve Central Bank. In other words, private interests have been stealing from the American people since 1913.

The Bible is often mis-quoted as saying that money is the root of all evil, whereas it really says, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." Better study up; between Bush and now Obama there is a paper freight train roaring down the tracks and coming straight at the middle class.

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Company President, BS Mathematics UTA 1961, Author A Time of Transition, C4L Blogger, former City Alderman, long time financial supporter of Dr. Paul from New Mexico.
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