The Money Masters Documentary - Gold Standard?
Submitted by CinciGuyForFreedom on Tue, 02/21/2012 - 23:10Hi:)
I'm a fairly new Ron Paul and I've been doing a lot of research. I just finished watching the documentary Money Masters and it has been truly enlightening! I never realized the extent of control the fed has on us and our government. I now completely and emphatically believe that a full monetary reform is in order!
I'm sure many people here have watched this and I'm wandering what do you think about his monetary solution vs. Dr. Paul's solution of returning to the gold standard. Specifically, the documentary states that most of the gold (if Fort Knox is really empty) is being held by the big private banks and foreign governments, and that a gold standard would actually be a back door to the same control as the FED. I see many things similar between Dr. Paul stances and the documentary, but the gold standard thing differs.
All comments, opinions, and insights welcome.
Many thanks!
RP won't "return" to a gold standard.
RP would allow free markets to decide what is money. He's mentioned the possibility of implementing a currency based on a basket of commodities. The old gold standard was corrupt as Gold was anchored to fixed wgt of silver! As we know via the GSR (gold to silver ratio) the price of silver vs gold fluctuates constantly.
I love Money Masters! Watched it back in 2007 when I first got into Ron Paul. It explains the history of money that is never taught in school. However, I disagree with Bill Still's solution. He believes a fiat currency can work if it's implemented correctly. Didn't we already try that? It just doesn't work no matter how many regulations are put in place. Govt always cheats.
The advantage of gold is that your savings are yours! And lastly it keeps govt from spending out of control. Holding gold, no one can devalue your savings. Though, you do have to protect your savings from robberies. Hope that helps!
Yes it does
thanks a lot... That makes a lot of sense. Also the post below mine is also helpful but I didn't read it closely enough before posting... lazy me.
I also liked the Money Masters. I remember back in 95 or 96 an acquaintance of mine gave me two VCR tapes that he wanted me to watch called the Money Masters. I didn't review the content of those tapes but instead used the tapes he gave me to record several Star Trek Next Generation episodes....
It wasn't until I saw America Freedom to Fascism in 2006 that I realized what a dumb and stupid thing I did.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odcGSi286a4&feature=plcp&cont...
When dealing with money it's not Fiat or Gold... it's honesty
The conclusion stated by the authors of the Money Masters is that it’s not what backs the currency but who controls it. The problem with that is you need those who are entrusted by the people to control the fiat currency to be perpetually honest and incorruptible, who will only increase its supply in precise accordance with the growth of GDP.
Those who propose the gold standard, on the other hand, say that this inevitable moral hazard is eliminated because to increase the supply of money they need more gold. But then there are those who say those same wicked few who currently control the fiat system will then just control the supply of gold. Now I’m no expert but is that not what they are doing already… controlling the price of gold through various manipulations in the market? What about these gold futures (paper gold) I hear about flooding the market the same way the gold smiths used to print more gold certificates than they had in the vaults. And if they can artificially control the price of gold by artificially controlling the supply will that not enable them to artificially control the value of any gold backed currency?
Also what about the gold in Fort Knox? If all that gold that’s supposed to be in Fort Knox is really there then that solves part of the problem but you still need to deal with the market manipulators… Actually several ropes and a few trees should do the trick.
Any who are more knowledgeable than I am on this subject I’d be happy to listen. Seems to me that we could wind up in a mess either way unless you have incorruptible people like Ron Paul controlling not only the money but the gold and the market as well. If you have perpetual honesty then you can have a currency backed by all the goods and services (productivity) of the nation including gold.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odcGSi286a4&feature=plcp&cont...
Centralized Control is bad
No matter what the currency is backed with. Bankers would still fractionally reserve the gold backed currencies as well. Ron is more interested in allowing competing currencies rather than just a centralized gold backed currency.
This is a way you can work to replace the FED in your local community:
http://www.dailypaul.com/215520/end-the-fed-a-monetary-syste...
Imagine a world with perhaps millions of competing currencies, 100% reserve, interest free and a system that rewards honor and integrity. Start now and restore the financial stability of your local community. It is FREE and costs 0$ to create your virtual private currency which is backed by items you take in for trade.
You in effect become the "banker" and issue credits which are backed by tangible items of value. Any two of your members can also make interest free credit transfers.
STEAL THIS QUOTE -> "The foundation for a police state has been put in place and it's urgent we mobilize resistance, before it's too late." ~ Ron Paul 2007
http://www.pledgebank.com/OnlyRonPaul2012
Actually
I think you've addressed my concerns... I got to look into what you posted more thoroughly. I should have read your post more closely before posting mine.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odcGSi286a4&feature=plcp&cont...
First, it's important to
First, it's important to note, that the "Money Masters" is quite a distance from Dr Paul and the austrian school of economics' point of view. It makes a LOT of lousy assertions and fudges history a bit. One being, that Lincoln was somehow trying to save "honest money" which is the OPPOSITE of the truth. Lincoln was a proto-keynesian, a protectionist/mercantilist, and truly the most destructive President in history before Wilson.
Money Masters is one of those primer vids that present you with paradigm challenging ideas, and that's great. Ultimately, however, it gives you an equally flawed and destructive paradigm to embrace that ignores extremely important economic law and historical precedent.
Now that you're armed with the knowledge that the Fed is an abomination, I'd admonish you to read the greatest book ever written on money by Murray Rothbard
http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=category&ID=92?afid=21
Then read the REAL history of money and banking in the US by Rothbard
http://mises.org/media/category/230/A-History-of-Money-and-B...
I promise you'll be hooked! Rothbard is among the most brilliant men of the 20th century and a friend of Dr Paul's. If you've got an iPod, you can get audiobooks from Mises University here:
http://itunesu.mises.org/
You'll never run out of educational material to fill your hours!
Tell Rothard to make a better video of his books....
Money masters on youtube is free and that is what people will be more exposed to, while Rothard is restricting himself to the strain of libertarians that he subscribes to.
jj
a little hard since he's no
a little hard since he's no longer with us. it is indeed sad that money masters is the only documentary out there that even touches on monetary policy (aside from maybe zeitgeist) since it's such utter rubbish.
if i were a doc film maker i'd do one, but alas i'm not. till then, all we've got is the great works of Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard. Men who's brilliance is somehow lost on the Money Masters directors who envision a nationalized currency, which carries with it almost all of the same problems the quasi national currency monopolists at the Fed have
all of THESE great men's works are free as well, both in written, as well as audio form, as i've linked above
ok, someone at Mises Institute to replicate Money Masters
A student of Mises Institute then for the job. I thought there was someonelse there by the name of Rothard.
jj
They Did`
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYZM58dulPE
The Mises Institute put out this documentary several years ago. Like I said, Money Masters is great for confronting a new set of ideas that hopefully leads to further study. It just requires a re-education of sorts in ACTUAL history and ACTUAL economics to set the whole thing straight.
Much of their history outside of an examination of the Fed, is just pure BS. John Wilkes Booth was NOT some assassin for the banking elite who wanted Honest Abe dead. For Christ's sake, Abe Lincoln was a life long Whig. His PLATFORM was the re-establishment of a central bank.
On the contrary, Booth was an angry Southerner who'd just watched his country be invaded, pillaged, and burned to the ground in the bloodiest war in the history of Western Civilization to that point.
Thank you for your thoughtful
Thank you for your thoughtful responses:) I will do some more research and definitely look into free market currencies.
Dr. Paul's foreign policy, states rights, and personal liberty is what converted me and honestly, the "End the Fed" issue was the last one that I started researching. After doing some research on the Fed, I now see how important it is to his/our platform.
One point of mention though, and this is not a criticism as much as it is my personal feedback (think solo focus group). The "End the Fed" stance is not one that people who do not do some decent research would understand. It is so completely indoctrinated into people and since it is not discussed in the MSM, we really need to figure out a way to disseminate a quick crash course to the general public. What I am trying to say is to the unenlightened (i.e 65yr old grandmother, busy mom, or working dad), chanting "end the fed" comes off really strange. This is just my noob opinion from someone who went from knowing very little to a lot in a short time frame.
Thank you everyone. And more opinions would be appreciated. BTW, I just ordered Dr. Paul's book on the subject:)
Fiat currency has
several proven track records. One is that it can be very effective in initiating commerce. Two is that it is almost always abused by those handling the printing or by counterfeiters.
the idea that Fiat currency cannot work, however, is a fallacy. The British grew and empire for several hundred years using "Tally Sticks". we've done the same in 100 years using the US dollar. Obviously burning down the building carrying the tally sticks proof of legitimacy was the beginning of the end of that system and Fed abuse bailing out the entire world's economic system is going to fail.
The problem with a firm gold standard is that booms and busts still happen, but this time it will be the result of too little money in some places and too much in others. See the 1800's and all the economic booms in the west and busts in the east and south of the US.
I think the solution lies in using other commodities besides gold and silver to back our money. Perhaps agriculture products. Fiat money will only function properly if very tight control is used in printing. Lincoln saved America using 'the greenback dollar' instead of borrowing from European banks at nearly 30 per cent interest. the greenbacks were later repurchased by the government.
well there are two things
well there are two things here that need to be considered. Number 1 is that most of the reasons there were boom and bust cycles with gold is due to the fact it wasnt a full gold standard they strayed from the rules quite a bit and also its a matter of price. When the government artificially keeps the price to low then theres not enough money to go around and it can bankrupt you like Winston Churchill did in the 1920s. He set the price of gold at the pre-war price of $20.67 but forgot that there was massive inflation during the war if the price was higher it could have covered the economy.
Next the reason you cannot have agricultural items as a backing is because they are consumed, sure they are regrown but what if there was a drought or natural disaster? Plus you dont want to be able to eat your money, when something is consumed and can never be used again you run into the problem of supply eventually. You need something that can be recirculated such as gold. The gold we use today is the same gold the Egyptians had and the Mayans and so on its been recirculating for centuries. Gold is notoriously hard to destroy, it has a fairly high melting point and unless you can somehow go in and destroy the atomic makeup of it its not gonna go away entirely. Competing currencies and a parallel system with gold tied to the dollar as a set weight with the price able to flow with the market and silver running along side it at an unfixed rate is a possibility. History has shown whenever to try and fix the price ratio it ends in disaster as happened with Alexander Hamilton. anyways good points all around from people and there is definatly a hard money answer out there to protect from rampant inflation.
I agree - here's your solution:
I think the solution lies in using other commodities besides gold and silver to back our money. Perhaps agriculture products.
What about a currency backed by everything?
http://www.dailypaul.com/215520/end-the-fed-a-monetary-syste...
STEAL THIS QUOTE -> "The foundation for a police state has been put in place and it's urgent we mobilize resistance, before it's too late." ~ Ron Paul 2007
http://www.pledgebank.com/OnlyRonPaul2012
What "should" be used as
What "should" be used as money should be determined only by free people choosing in an open market.
Gary North addresses the "tally sticks" story, too, in a critique of Ellen Brown's "Web of Debt":
http://www.garynorth.com/public/6916print.cfm
Freelance copywriter/editor who gets the "freedom message"!
Visit: http://www.DavidBardallis.com
Paul's solution is in HR1098, the Competition in Currency Act,
which is not a return to the gold standard.
http://www.coinnews.net/coin-legislation/112-free-competitio...
Also be aware that there are many things that are called a gold standard, which in fact, are not.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north177.html
First, you need to understand
First, you need to understand Ron Paul's position, which is not "returning to the gold standard."
Dr. Paul believes, with the Austrian economists, that money production should be left to the free market, i.e., competing currencies. The use of gold as money arose from such a free market. Heck, the concept of money itself arose from a free market.
When people were free to choose their money, they usually eventually settled on precious metals, gold in particular (but also silver). There are good reasons for this.
I recommend Gary North on this subject. He explains it well. He wrote a series of essays, What Is Money? They're online here:
http://garynorth.com/public/5678.cfm
Dr. North also smacks down the "Money Masters" types, whom he calls "false flag infiltrators" and/or "Greenbackers" because the roots of their ideology are leftist/statist in the extreme. See here:
http://www.garynorth.com/public/8574.cfm
In short, do not buy into any critique of the Fed that does not propose as a solution *freedom* in money and banking.
Freelance copywriter/editor who gets the "freedom message"!
Visit: http://www.DavidBardallis.com
Love the Money Masters
.
"Religious people fear hell...
...Spiritual people (including our Savior) have lived it." -my friend
Leave Us Alone and Bring the Troops Home
Commodity money is better than fiat money
Fiat money is still bad even if it's simply spent into the economy rather than borrowed at interest then spent into the economy.
Commodity based money prevents any party from cheating. Governments and banks that can create money from nothing will cause misallocation of capital leading to cycles of boom and bust.
When I first found out about the true nature of money I was furious that the central bank prints the money out of nothing and then lends it to us at interest, but once I got over that I realized something... why should I value something that is created from nothing in the first place?
who can be entrusted with the power of money creation?
no one, that's who!
The primary function of the design engineer is to make things difficult for the fabricator and impossible for the serviceman.
You
...and if you screw around it must be very easy to put you out of business. The answer is in the link I posted a few comments up.
STEAL THIS QUOTE -> "The foundation for a police state has been put in place and it's urgent we mobilize resistance, before it's too late." ~ Ron Paul 2007
http://www.pledgebank.com/OnlyRonPaul2012