Bitcoin is the “Red Pill” of Freedom
What is a “dollar”?
One of the best-kept secrets of modern finance is the nature of money itself. I recall a televised dialogue between Ron Paul and Alan Greenspan, when the latter was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve bank. He was asked by Ron Paul what exactly a dollar is. Greenspan’s answer was: “I don’t know.”
Now I ask this audience: Is it credible that the chairman of the Federal Reserve bank didn’t know what a dollar is? Is it not infinitely more likely he knew exactly what a dollar is, but had a compelling reason for not wanting to say it on the public record?
The simple fact is that for hundreds of years, a dollar was a measurement of weight, a specific number of grams of silver. So “one dollar” referred to X grams of silver. In his marvelous essay on the subject, Pieces of Eight, Edwin Vieira Jr. demonstrates beyond any doubt that the constitutional dollar of the United States is a “historically determinate, fixed weight of fine silver.” The Coinage Act of 1792 is but one source among many that makes this plain. It reads:
“the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars or units … of the value [mass or weight] of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy-one grains and four sixteenth parts of a grain of pure … silver.”
That “a dollar” was a reference to a measured weight of silver and indirectly of gold, was understood by every American man woman and child for hundreds of years. That understanding has been lost over time, since America’s gold was confiscated from the American people by FDR in 1933.
America’s wealth was confiscated in 1933
That America’s gold was forcibly taken in 1933, under threat of huge fines and 10 years imprisonment, is a matter of public record. There is the question of where it went that needs to be understood, and why it was taken is an equally important question which is directly related to the first question. People were threatened with jail time and huge fines because otherwise few would have voluntarily given all their wealth to a government they understood to be their servant.
After all the real wealth was forcibly taken from American people, who was it given to, and why? Most people not only don’t know, they never even considered the questions. But rest assured that SOMEONE took ownership of it. Further, it doesn’t take genius to understand that the decision to confiscate all the accumulated wealth of every American was not made lightly. Most Americans did not give up their wealth voluntarily. There MUST have been a very compelling and dire situation that provoked such a desperate act on the part of the US government. We will discuss that shortly.
What did the American people get in exchange for the total accumulated wealth of some 250 years of American enterprise? In return for the wealth of a nation, , the Federal Reserve gave the American people “green pieces of paper”, redeemable for silver (initially). The Indians who got trinkets for selling Manhattan got a better deal, actually. Those trinkets likely had some intrinsic value which paper does not have.
It is hard for the novice to grasp the concept that those green pieces of paper in our wallets are not actually ours. They were lent to the US government (which then distributed it to the population though various purchases and programs). Lending something implies that ownership remains with the lender. If one lends a neighbor a tool, he typically expects it to be returned. Understanding this point is critical.
Every one of those green pieces of paper still belongs to the Federal Reserve, which lent it to the US government. (It is called a Federal Reserve “note”, because a note is evidence of a debt, in Finance.)
So, the American people are using the legal property of the Federal Reserve to “facilitate commerce”. They have no viable choice but to use these pieces of paper to transact business, because real money has not been available since 1933. The central bank in question is privately owned by various persons and corporations, but ultimately there is but a very small group of shareholders of the bank. They are running their business first and foremost to maximize long-term profits for the benefit of the shareholders.
1913 was a fateful year
Beginning in 1913, the owners of the Federal Reserve began lending to the US government an essentially worthless currency which was nevertheless useful because people were willing to accept it in place of gold and silver coin. But despite lending mere pieces of paper, the owners of the Federal Reserve demanded interest payments in gold. Within 20 years, after borrowing so much money to fight WW1 and even more during the roaring 20’s, the US Government was unable to make its interest payments – so the owners of the Federal Reserve foreclosed.
FDR was only in office a couple of days before every bank in the country shut down and did not open again until after he agreed to essentially confiscate the gold of every American, to be given to the owners of the Federal Reserve bank, in payment of the accumulated interest on the government’s debt.
After that fateful day there was no longer any gold in American circulation; there was no longer lawful money available to the American people (silver was still available, but the real store of wealth had been gold). How then could anything be bought or sold? Barter was not only unacceptable in practice, forcing the population to barter would plainly expose the horrific theft that had just taken place! So green pieces of paper, owned entirely by a central bank not answerable to the US government, was substituted to facilitate trade.
Once the readers grasps that the central bank is a private corporation, it becomes clear that “Federal Reserve notes” are not different from “Chuck E. Cheese Money”, or “Disney Dollars”, with a picture of Chuck E Cheese or Mickey Mouse printed thereon. Pictures of dead Presidents are put on Federal Reserve notes to give an illusion of legitimacy. It is not real. It is a façade – an illusion, a deception.
It is important to reiterate that Federal Reserve notes remain the property of the Federal Reserve, and are lent to the American government at interest. The central bank retains ownership of all the dollars in circulation. As owners they are legally entitled to rental fees from those using their property, in the same manner that an apartment owner can justly demand rent from his tenants. These usage/rental fees are paid in the form of income taxes. Hence, the more of their notes one controls (i.e., the more money one makes), the higher the fees/taxes. This is the key to understanding why it was only after the government began borrowing Federal Reserve notes in 1913 that the income tax was deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court.
The wealth a very few men have accumulated from this lending arrangement in the past 100 years is staggering. It is said that less than 200 men own most of the world. Bill Gates is often hailed as being the richest man in the world, but he is far from it. The owners of the world are never in the newspaper, would not be recognized on the street, and likely do not even live in America.
In addition to rental charges (income taxes), the true owner of Federal Reserve notes can and does demand “terms of use”. It is no different from the EULA you must agree to, as a condition to use software or internet services these days. If you use the property or service you must agree to the terms. It is the same with Federal Reserve notes. The owners of the notes lay out any terms they think they can get away with. Limits on withdrawals from bank accounts, limits on deposits, limits on amount transported by plane or transmitted over the wires, are routine. Once you understand the issue of ownership/rent/terms of use, so much begins to make sense.
Now the “New Deal” makes perfect sense
Understanding the ramifications and implications of the nation renting its currency from a privately owned corporation, and thereby becoming subject to ALL MANNER OF REGULATION AND FEES, we can finally understand why the “New Deal” was implemented in 1933. With the loss of real money, and the substitution of privately owned currency in its place, American society was radically transformed. Immediately after the banks re-opened in 1933, Americans were suddenly and for the first time ruled by all manner of bureaucrats in government agencies. They suddenly were informed they were required to get a license to do almost anything that involved earning those bits of green paper. In light of what we have now learned, this makes perfect sense.
The Supreme Court initially objected to this violent upheaval of the American experiment, but FDR threatened to pack the court unless they accepted the terms of the bankruptcy proceedings he was facilitating. Faced with such a Hobbesian choice, the courts yielded and rubber-stamped the rental fees and regulations that came with using privately owned notes in commerce. In 1913, when the Federal Reserve first began lending to the government, income taxes were deemed constitutional by the court, but were only applicable to a very small group of people who directly benefited from those pieces of green paper. After 1933, an ever-increasing number of people were required to pay. Now we know why.
Voluntary Income Tax
It is often said that as a matter of law, income taxes are voluntary. We have all heard this. Yet, in the same breath, those that teach this maxim to us, tell us that we MUST pay it. This obvious contradiction is never adequately explained. Virtually very tax protestor in the last 30-40 years, no matter how smart and eloquent, has lost their case. Many of them landed in jail for their valiant efforts, despite reminding the courts that we are taught that taxes are voluntary. How is this bizarre set of circumstances possible?
The tax courts are ruled by the presumption that using Federal Reserve notes is a voluntary act. If you don’t want to use them, you don’t have to. But if you do, then you must pay a usage fee (tax).
Those unfortunate incarcerated tax protestors did not understand that the Federal Reserve notes in their bank accounts are owned by the central bank. Simply having a dollar-denominated bank account, or having a credit card, was incontrovertible proof that the protestors owed a rental fee, which they refused to pay.
Of course, this arrangement is far from fair from the perspective of the people who use Federal Reserve notes in total ignorance of the terms of use, which is 99.999% of the population. Indeed, it could (and should) be argued that the contract is fraudulent, since the system has deliberately hidden these facts from the population. Does not a valid contract presume that both sides understand the terms of the contract? If one party deliberately hides pertinent details, is not the contract voided? I’ll leave that question to the lawyers, but I’m pretty sure we know the answer.
Global Control
As a result of these circumstances we were born into, the owners of the world’s privately owned central banks now essentially own and rule the world, as they dictate terms of use and rental fees for almost all currencies globally. At this point, almost no countries own their own central banks which are answerable to the elected government. The few countries that do are routinely vilified and targeted for “regime change”. So, the world has been living akin to “The Matrix”, where the populations of the world have lived in complete ignorance of their desperate situation as virtual serfs in a feudal hierarchy.
Title to Property
Understanding that there is no lawful money in circulation is also the key to understanding why one cannot get lawful title to their properties or even lawful titles to their cars. How can you actually pay for “real” items, with “fake” money? You cannot. (“Certificates of Title” certify that a title exists, but are not the title themselves.) And so, you can only receive certificates of title to your home and car. Because the actual tile is held by the “true” owner of your house and car, you must register the car to drive it, and can be evicted from your fully-paid home for failure to pay “taxes”, which as discussed earlier, are usage fees. This is only possible when we don’t hold title to property.
ENTER CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Unlike fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are not owned by the central banks. They are owned, wholly and completely, by the person who controls the address in which the bitcoin’s are registered. This is the reason that central banks are still struggling to find a way to regulate Bitcoin and the lesser-known altcoins. The central banks have been hamstrung and limited to exercising a modest degree of regulation over exchanges where cryptocoins are converted to and from fiat currencies. It is only the fiat currencies they are lawfully able to regulate, not the cryptocurrencies. But, by regulating the conversion to fiat they give the appearance of regulating the cryptocurrency. It is an illusion – they know it, and are hoping that the rest of us never figure it out.
It is a certainty that central banks want desperately to directly regulate and tax cryptocurrencies as freely as they do fiat notes. (The Bank of China is said to preparing a Chinese cryptocoin for that very purpose.) However, in the absence of a central bank-issued cryptocoin they will likely not do so directly. Why not? Because they are rightfully afraid that a successful court challenge would prohibit such regulation, and in doing so, they would inadvertently expose to humanity the real reason central banks are able to tax and regulate fiat notes.
The last thing the owners of the central banks want is for the public to learn of the secret ownership of Federal Reserve notes which has made them the de facto rulers of the world – far wealthier than the kings of old, the Tutors, and the popes, ever dreamed of. This well-guarded secret could be inadvertently revealed to the public as a result of a successful court challenge to the illegitimate regulation of a currency they do not own.
The Red Pill is available
For the first time in more than 100 years, the owners of the central bank are confronted with a means though which the people of the world might actually escape from their control. To date the central banksters have not figured out a way to stop it (without turning off the internet). They have successfully slowed down the inevitable by keeping the great masses of people ignorant of cryptocurrencies, and/or afraid of them, by stressing their volatility, by associating them with nefarious activities, etc. But a tipping point approaches.
Until the recent advent of cryptocurrencies there has been no viable and effective way for the American people to be free of the debt-slavery feudal serfdom that using Federal Reserve notes has brought upon them. But cryptocurrencies are offering a way out of the matrix. The red pill. To make matters worse for the central banksters, cryptocurrencies are immeasurably more convenient than their “green paper” competitor. They can easily be sent to anyone without any government-mandated paperwork or oversight. No need to ask anyone’s permission. They are easily usable down to 8 places to the right of the decimal point. 0.00000001 bitcoins can be easily spent. The cryptocurrency is appreciating in value every year, whilst the green pieces of paper become increasingly worthless every year. How terribly inconvenient for the banksters. The solution to mankind’s slavery is also an infinitely better medium of exchange!!
When the day arrives that one can easily buy and sell virtually anything and everything without conversion to fiat, i.e., when most everyone understands and uses Bitcoin (or another altcoin) on a daily basis, to buy their coffee and donuts, to leave a tip for their waiter, etc, more than a centennial of tyranny will start to unravel. The problem of title and ownership of real estate and other high value goods will still need to be worked out; but endless regulations, terms of use and rental fees will rapidly come to an end.
May that day come soon.