Quote of the Day: “The legal tender quality [of money] is only valuable for the purposes of dishonesty.” — Justice Salmon Chase Chief Justice, formerly Secretary of Treasury in President Lincoln’s administration Source: in dissent of Knox vs. Lee (The Legal Tender Cases, 1871)
Subject: Can we please make use of the 80-20 rule?
Yesterday I criticized the misdirected public rage about the AIG bonuses. There is already some buzz on Internet about my “strong words.”
I simply pointed out that these bonuses were authorized by Congress, signed into law by the President, and paid by a government appointed CEO. I also explained how the “Read the Bills Act” could have prevented this from happening.
Which is more rage-worthy? The fact that Congress authorized the AIG bonuses, or the fact that many politicians didn’t know they had done this?
We think the answer is obvious.
That’s why we think people are focusing on the wrong thing.
This same lack of focus is happening with the Federal Reserve.
There’s a big push behind Ron Paul’s “End the Fed” bill. That’s good. But what isn’t good is the relative lack of effort on behalf of his far, far more important “Honest Money” bills.
The “Honest Money” bills are more important because they would pave the way for passing the “End the Fed” bill. Here’s why . . .
Once the “Honest Money” bills pass, private businesses could begin creating the mechanisms for buying things with gold and silver. Businesses could, for instance, allow you to use gold and silver through your credit and debt cards.
This is crucial. There’s no chance we can abolish the Fed until or unless a competing money system is already in place.
Ron Paul’s “Honest Money” bills are the 80-20 approach to abolishing the Fed. We need to . . .
* Repeal the legal tender law,
* Repeal the government monopoly on coinage, and
* End the tax on gold exchanges.
This would give us a competitive money system.
This would marginalize and disempower the Fed.
Then we could easily abolish the Fed.
And that’s why the “Honest Money” bills should be passed first.
There should be 80 messages to Congress in support of the “Honest Money” bills for every 20 “End the Fed” messages. That’s where our focus should be.
This issue is becoming more important. Last week the Federal Reserve announced the creation of nearly a trillion dollars in new money. They claim they’ll be able to withdraw this new money before it can cause price inflation, but we don’t think so. No one can predict the future, but we suspect hyper-inflation is just around the corner.
Please use our quick and easy Educate the Powerful System to ask your elected representative’s to co-sponsor Ron Paul’s “Honest Money” bills.
Use your personal comments to oppose the Fed’s plan for nearly a trillion dollars in legalized counterfeiting. Tell them this counterfeiting is going to inflate your cost of living and rob you of your savings and retirement. Withdraw your consent!
Then, take one more step . . .
Congressman Paul hasn’t yet reintroduced his “Honest Money” bills in the new Congress. Don’t worry, you should still send a message about these bills because the idea behind them is what’s important. But we also need to encourage Congressman Paul to reintroduce this legislation.
Maybe he hasn’t done it yet because these three bills — legal tender, the government coinage monopoly, and taxes on gold — ought to be one bill instead of three. Perhaps Dr. Paul is working on that, but it wouldn’t hurt to give him some encouragement.
Please call Congressman Paul’s office at 202-225-2831. Tell his staff that you really value Congressman Paul’s “Honest Money” bills, and that you hope he’ll reintroduce them as one piece of legislation (they are, after all, about a single subject).
Remember, we need to find the path of least resistence for each issue. Ron Paul’s “Honest Money” bills can pave the way to abolishing the Federal Reserve.
Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.