tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9661811.post6997518448644436229..comments2024-02-18T12:18:45.788-05:00Comments on Sun and Shield: Debt versus DeficitMartin LaBarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629053725732957599noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9661811.post-52847226323903838382012-10-12T12:51:08.700-04:002012-10-12T12:51:08.700-04:00I looked at some of the links you included in your...I looked at some of the links you included in your comments. As I'm sure you know, Aaron, the view of the Federal Reserve indicated by the sites you recommended is at least somewhat controversial. Maybe a <b>lot</b> controversial.<br /><br />That doesn't make that view wrong -- it may be right. But I'm not expert enough in this area to know who is right, nor am I inclined to study the ins and outs of government finance much. Thanks for the links you supplied, and anyone else who read this blog is welcome to examine them, too.Martin LaBarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14629053725732957599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9661811.post-35492574119076546702012-10-12T09:35:53.104-04:002012-10-12T09:35:53.104-04:00Here is a quicker and simpler explanation of the F...Here is a quicker and simpler explanation of the Fed, and central banking in General.<br /><br />http://www.nolanchart.com/article5489-the-money-matrix-how-the-fed-works-part-615.htmlAaron Bishopnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9661811.post-75287569045656482792012-10-12T09:22:21.280-04:002012-10-12T09:22:21.280-04:00The articles from Wikipedia are how it is supposed...The articles from Wikipedia are how it is supposed to work, but not how it works in actuality. H. Edward Griffin explains how it was really setup in his book "The creature from Jekyll Island"<br /><br />http://www.barnesandnoble.com/listing/2694095175583?cm_mmc=GooglePLA-_-UsedTextbook-_-Q000000633-_-2694095175583&cm_mmca2=pla&r=1<br /><br />Murray N. Rothbard goes into the creation and destruction of money, currency, and wealth in his book "What has the government done to our money"<br /><br />http://mises.org/document/617/What-Has-Government-Done-to-Our-Money<br /><br />And if you want to go even deeper into what exactly constitutes money and wealth and how it is created there is always Frederic Bastiats "What is Money?"<br /><br />http://bastiat.org/en/what_is_money.html<br /><br />There are many more on this topic, but for anyone interested this is a good start. Aaron Bishopnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9661811.post-17365156042630730062012-10-11T20:25:57.342-04:002012-10-11T20:25:57.342-04:00Thanks, Aaron. I'm not an expert on these matt...Thanks, Aaron. I'm not an expert on these matters, but I recognize that printing money, whoever does it, could be dangerous.<br /><br />The Wikipedia, which is usually correct, indicates that the Federal Reserve is a mixture of both private and public entities:<br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System<br /><br />It also says that the Treasury, not the Federal Reserve, is responsible for printing money:<br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_the_Treasury<br /><br />The current interest on the federal debt is about $360 billion per year, according to this source:<br /><br />https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/ir/ir_expense.htm<br /><br />Another source says that the income received by the Federal Government is about 2.2 Trillion dollars per year, and that about 42% of that comes from individual income taxes:<br /><br />http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/background/numbers/revenue.cfm<br /><br />That means that the amount received from individual income taxes is significantly more than the interest on the debt. <br /><br />For more about Quantitative Easing, which doesn't exactly seem to be printing money, see here:<br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easingMartin LaBarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14629053725732957599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9661811.post-68331095877179437012012-10-11T12:10:00.204-04:002012-10-11T12:10:00.204-04:00Another topic that you did not cover is the nature...Another topic that you did not cover is the nature of our money and how its existence creates debt. The Federal Reserve is a privately owned bank that prints our currency. When the currency is released to the public it is done so with interest. This interest creates debt. Every dollar in circulation has debt owed on it, and that debt cannot be paid off because there is more debt than currency. It is mathematically impossible for the US to pay off it's debt. Also, the income tax goes solely to pay off the interest on the debt owed due to this setup. There is also the fact that the more money that is printed,the less value each dollar has. This is the reason for inflation. As more and more money enters circulation, less and less can be bought using that money. Quantitative Easing is simply the printing of more currency. We are currently in QE3 which is also being called QE Infinity since the Federal Reserve has set no end date for this round of printing. All this is going to do is dilute the monetary supply to the point where the money you have saved will soon become worth less by the percentage of currency added to the supply/total amount of currency in circulation. With no end in sight to the printing, there is no telling how bad the inflation over the next few years will get.Aaron Bishopnoreply@blogger.com