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Simple question: Why is the US government NOT allowed to print it's own currency?

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posted on May, 12 2013 @ 10:46 PM
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I've wondered about this for quite a while and just don't seem to get it or get my head around it ... so perhaps some economics experts would care to chime in and explain it to me in plain (english) language.

The way I look at it is that if the US government needs $1 or $1 billion, why can't they crank up the presses and just print it ? This way they still get the currency they need and don't have to pay interest on it.

So why do they have to go to a private cartel (the Federal Reserve), run by international banks, to get the amount of currency they need ... and then pay interest for the privilege of having the FedRes print what they could have printed for themselves ?

Does this mean that it's "illegal" for the US government to even try to print it's own currency ? And if it is, exactly "WHO" made this a felony and WHY ?



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 10:55 PM
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reply to post by afoolbyanyothername
 

We do print our own money, the actual printing is done by the Treasury department. The money itself is intrinsically worth about as much as a sheet of toilet paper, as there is nothing backing it anymore. The Fed is what sets and controls the value of that piece of otherwise worthless paper.



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 10:56 PM
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reply to post by afoolbyanyothername
 


Federal Reserve Act
edit on 12-5-2013 by ParanoidAmerican because: (no reason given)

edit on 12-5-2013 by ParanoidAmerican because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 10:56 PM
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I don't know it all on the subject, but I think the answers are most likely in the "Federal Reserve Act' of 1913. If I'm not mistaken, that "Act" expired this year...Maybe that's in December though.

And hey look...There's a link above

edit on 12-5-2013 by minkmouse because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 10:58 PM
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reply to post by afoolbyanyothername
 


Politics have been corrupted by bankers, since centuries.
But if you ask a mainstream economist about that, he will say something like "it is to limit inflation, because a country, a government always prints more and more and more, so that is why money is kind of privatized, to ensure that governments do their best with the money they have before asking for more."
This is a big sophism of course, but that this what economists are told in school.



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 10:58 PM
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reply to post by defcon5
 


No the treasury commissions the FED to print it and they charge interest. The Federal Gov. only mints coins.



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:02 PM
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Kennedy tried to take back printing power with the Silver Note but we see how that turned out....Exec. Order 11110

note the date....



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:12 PM
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reply to post by minkmouse
 

I don't know if you believe anything that comes from a government source, but here's the Fed's answer from their FAQ page:


Is the Federal Reserve Act going to expire?

No. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913--which established the Federal Reserve as the central bank of the United States--has been amended or altered by the Congress numerous times over the years, but the act has never included an "expiration date" or repeal date. As stated in the law itself, the Federal Reserve Act can only be repealed, amended, or altered by the Congress.

www.federalreserve.gov...



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:16 PM
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Not an expert by any means but if you print money whenever you need it then the money becomes worthless.

It's really as simple as supply and demand.

If there is a surplus of anything then it becomes worthless or nearly worthless.



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:20 PM
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reply to post by billy565
 


That is the catch and why the FED charges interest on the money it prints for the USG, by charging interest it ensures there is never enough money to cover the debt thus more money must be created....good plan aye?

edit on 12-5-2013 by ParanoidAmerican because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:22 PM
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Because the Rothschilds would not approve..

just ask Kennedy~!



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:27 PM
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reply to post by afoolbyanyothername
 


It probably has something to do with the misconception that the United States is a Country, it isn't - It's a Corporation.

Some further information. goo.gl...



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:35 PM
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reply to post by afoolbyanyothername
 

The US government does print its own currency. It has an agency called the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for just this purpose. Perhaps you are confusing the printing of currency with the creation of money? The US government delegates that power to the Federal Reserve system. The Fed is neither a private cartel nor run by international bankers, by the way. It operates under a statutory charter and is governed by the Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed Board of Governors, which also comprises a majority of the Open Market Committee and appoints 1/3 of each Federal Reserve Bank's board. (The rest of the boards are drawn from that district's banking and other business sectors, but of course they are governed by the Federal Reserve Act and the appointed Board of Governors, so their Banks are not "private" in any meaningful sense.)



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:36 PM
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Surprised no one has given a straight answer to his question yet.. Inflation



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:44 PM
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Originally posted by charles1952
reply to post by minkmouse
 

I don't know if you believe anything that comes from a government source, but here's the Fed's answer from their FAQ page:


Is the Federal Reserve Act going to expire?

No. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913--which established the Federal Reserve as the central bank of the United States--has been amended or altered by the Congress numerous times over the years, but the act has never included an "expiration date" or repeal date. As stated in the law itself, the Federal Reserve Act can only be repealed, amended, or altered by the Congress.

www.federalreserve.gov...


Thanks for the link


HOLY CRAP!!!...I can't get my head around the "Who owns the federal reserve" link within yours



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:44 PM
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reply to post by cass1dy09
 


Very true. If you print too much money a dollar bill becomes worthless and a ten dollar bill would have the comparative value of what a dollar bill has today.
When it comes to why we don't just print more money it's not too complicated.



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:45 PM
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Originally posted by ParanoidAmerican
Kennedy tried to take back printing power with the Silver Note but we see how that turned out....Exec. Order 11110

note the date....

From your link:


The order allowed the Secretary to issue silver certificates, if any were needed, during the transition period under President Kennedy's plan to eliminate silver certificates. ... President Kennedy also called upon Congress to phase out silver certificates in favor of Federal Reserve notes

So Kennedy delegated a power he already had, as part of his plan to eliminate silver certificates, leaving only FRNs and the limited supply of US notes. From this we are supposed to infer ... what? He was shot by Big Silver?



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:52 PM
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reply to post by afoolbyanyothername
 


Because then the owners of the private corporation 'Federal Reserve' could not make trillions in profits and hold our nation financially hostage.



posted on May, 12 2013 @ 11:58 PM
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reply to post by FurvusRexCaeli
 

Not really....he was trying to drive real silver (metal) up in value because it was becoming valuable in industry .. With it he told the US Treasury Dept. to halt sales of silver which drove prices up. I think there are far better suspects than the FED as he wanted to pull Silver Certs from circulation. However he didn't want to remove coins which was done after his death in 1965 with the Coinage Act.

edit on 13-5-2013 by ParanoidAmerican because: Sloppy.



posted on May, 13 2013 @ 05:18 AM
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reply to post by afoolbyanyothername
 

It is a self-imposed restriction and a wise one too.

Given that all modern currencies are fiat or faith-based (faith that they are redeemable for things of value), limiting the volume of money in circulation to that necessary to enable commerce without significantly lowering the value of the currency (in terms of the goods and services it can buy) and hence retain faith in its continued use is an extremely tricky business and something that should never be entrusted to a government with a need to respond to short term compulsions.

That said, the Central Bank of any country is practically part of the country's government and will have to bow down to the demands of the government regarding monetary policy, if the demands are strong enough. That is one possible reason why the West European nations chose to create the ECB and use the Euro thus placing the monetary policy outside the direct influence of any single country within the EMU.

The US government can create as much money as it strongly desires. However there needs to be support for it across the federal executive and legislature. The legislature has to agree to raise the debt ceiling limit (or do away with it altogether), approve the expenditures and the treasury has to issue T-Bills for the excess money. If the banks don't have the money to buy the debt, the Fed loans them money to buy US debt (the Fed by law is prohibited from buying the government debt directly) and then buys it from them. If you are concerned about the government being indebted to the Fed, you don't need to be. The interest paid on the debt to the Fed comes right back to the treasury as revenue, since all of the Fed's profits are remitted to the treasury. The Fed buying the T-Bills should be the last resort because it increases the money supply far in excess of the needs of commerce resulting in inflation, but has been resorted to since the QE began. So for all practical purposes the US government is printing money as it chooses and if it doesn't curb the habit, it will lead to very high inflation and a consequent loss of faith in the currency both domestically and internationally (the latter likely to happen first) which will lead to further inflation in a self-reinforcing cycle until probably the currency is replaced with another and a tighter monetary policy put in place.



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