I finished reading The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard. It is a very interesting book that presents and expands upon the same ideas against the Federal Reserve that I’ve also read from Gary North. I hope to eventually write a detailed review but for now I want to point out reasons to be more familiar with many aspects of our government and how these types of institutions are not there to protect the people but instead promote the private interests of powerful individuals. Rothbard starts with the following accusation:
By far the most secret and least accountable operation of the federal government is not, as one might expect, the CIA, DIA, or some other super-secret intelligence agency . . . The Federal Reserve System is accountable to no one; it has no budget; it is subject to no audit; and no Congressional committee knows of, or can truly supervise, its operations.
To people who may desire to trust all branches of government or private banks that are backed by the power of government this may not be a bad thing by itself. If the Fed is doing good many would not be concerned by its secretive nature. One would then have to ask why it has to be so secretive, but the answer probably arises from the fact that it isn’t doing much good. While the Fed claims to fight inflation, it is the only consistent cause of inflation in our nation.
Rothbard has the following to say about printing money and then goes on to show how our government is involved in this very cause of inflation:
If the government falls prey to the temptation of printing a great deal of new money, not only will prices go up, but the “quality” of money will become suspect in that society.
We can currently in today’s world tell that something is a little different with the dollar. Whereas for years it was worth almost twice as much as the Canadian dollar, today they are approximately equal. The price of gold is more than $850 an ounce (it was pegged at $35 an ounce before we totally left the gold standard in 1971).
When thinking of inflation and the Inflation Tax as repeatedly mentioned by Ron Paul I am reminded of the many passages throughout the Bible that demand the use of just weights and measures (Lev. 19:35, Deut. 25:13-15, Prov. 11:1, Prov. 20:10, Prov. 20:23, Ezekiel 45:10, Amos 8:5, Hosea 12:7, Micah 6:11). Our monetary system does not in any way seem to be composed of just or righteous weights and measures. The values fluctuate as the Fed increases and decreases the money supply.
I haven’t developed a thoroughly thought out and researched position but it is an area of concern. It is encouraging that there is still in the running one presidential candidate that understands and talks about these issues. Ron Paul took second place in Nevada on Saturday and still has a chance to win. $1.6 million has been raised for the campaign today with a few hours to go. There still is hope, but only if the American people are willing to ask questions about our government and the traditions we have all come to accept as truth.
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