A History of Money and Trade

To start with a history of money and debt, we must go back many years ago when people used to trade their wares for the things they wanted and needed.

In place of money or Federal Reserve Notes, you could trade a well made pistol for a cow, which you could eat or trade a remainder of for other items like clothing.

It didn't take long for people to realize there needed to be a more efficient means of trade. If you were a farmer, it was too difficult to carry baskets of fresh corn around to trade for a new horse. And, the person selling the horse might not want any corn at all.

A History of Money and Gold

So, people used gold for cash money, which always had a stable value, to trade for the items they wanted and needed. This way the horse dealer could always trade the gold received from the farmer for the clothing he really wanted instead of having to take the corn.

In a history of money and gold, this only posed one problem. Gold was very heavy to carry and hard to conceal. In the beginning of our banking history what people would do is leave their gold with a goldsmith - http://www.fdrs.org/bnaking_history.html

The goldsmith would then give them a note, or paper money, that stated how much gold they had on deposit with the goldsmith (bank).

The farmer could then take this paper money note, say worth $50 to the horse dealer and buy a horse with it. The horse dealer could then spend this $50 paper note or go back to the goldsmith to pick up the $50 of gold that he had just acquired by selling the horse to the farmer.

Well, why would the horse dealer want to trade in the cash money note for the heavy gold, when he just wanted to trade it for clothing and food anyway. So, the note would continue to trade hands and very few people would ever go redeem it for the gold it was backed by.

It didn't take long for the goldsmith to understand this reality. So, here he is storing all of this gold for other people. Let's give it a value to make this next principle clear.

Let's say the gold he is storing is valued at $1,000 and there are $1,000 in real cash money notes backed by this real gold being circulated.

A History of Money and Loans

When many people wanted a loan for say a total of $1,000, he decided no one would notice and it would be real easy to lend them someone else's gold, well actually a funny money note which was a promise to pay gold upon redemption of the note. And, he'd only charge 10% interest.

In a history of money and loans, this caused another problem. If everyone came in to redeem their notes, there would not be enough gold to pay back everyone because there was only $1,000 in real cash money notes backed by REAL gold.

hat didn't matter to him, why not lend out to anyone who looks like they can repay? And, that year he lent out a total of $10,000 worth of newly created or you could say counterfeit, funny money notes. Oh well, who cares says the goldsmith, no one is coming in to get their gold anyway.

So, now there is $1,000 in real cash money notes backed by REAL gold, and $10,000 in funny money loans, thus $11,000 in total notes circulating. The goldsmith is charging his 10% or $1,000 per year of interest and don't forget every penny of the original counterfeited principal is his to keep. For simplicity, lets say he now stops lending!

A History of Money and Inflation

Lets look at what this causes. There is now ten times as much currency/notes floating around then there is real gold to back it. This causes the value of the original $1,000 to loose 90% of its value. Therefore to buy a horse now, it would cost $500. Thus, a history of money and INFLATION.

Everyone now has way more money then they did the year before, they feel rich. There are still the same amounts of products and services being sold, just a lot more dollars to bid for them, thus most prices go way up. This is called a boom.

Now the next thing this causes is for the $1,000 of interest and any portion paid to the principal of these loans to go directly into the goldsmith's pocket. Let's say over the course of the first year, the borrowers paid back $1,000 worth of principal and $1,000 in interest.

This means there is still $1,000 of real cash money notes backed by REAL gold. $9,000 in funny money loans outstanding, $9,000 in total notes circulating and the goldsmith has pocketed $2,000.

So, the goldsmith is now up $2,000 out of thin air, and there is now $9,000 in notes circulating which needs to pay back $9,000 owing. And the cost of everything has gone up ten fold. Now lets move forward another year.

Let's say over the course of the second year, the borrowers paid back $1,100 worth of principal and $900 in interest. There is still only $1,000 in notes backed by REAL gold. $7,900 in loans outstanding, $7,000 in total notes circulating and the goldsmith has pocketed another $2,000, totaling $4,000 thus far.

Let's say over the course of the third year, the borrowers paid back $1,200 worth of principal and $800 in interest. There is still only $1,000 in notes backed by REAL gold. $6,700 in loans outstanding, $5,000 in total notes circulating and the goldsmith has pocketed another $2,000, totaling $6,000 thus far.

A History of Money and Recession

People tighten up their spending for no apparent reason, but it is soley because there are less notes in circulation. So, prices start to fall. Businesses can't survive with the lower incomes, so they lay people off, thus giving even fewer people money to spend. And, now we have the beginning of a history of money and RECESSION.

Year four, the borrowers paid back $1,300 worth of principal and $700 in interest. There is still only $1,000 in notes backed by REAL gold. $5,400 in loans outstanding, $3,000 in total notes circulating and the goldsmith has pocketed another $2,000, totaling $8,000 thus far.

Year five, the borrowers paid back $1,400 worth of principal and $600 in interest. There is still only $1,000 in gold. $4,000 in loans outstanding, $1,000 in total notes circulating and the goldsmith has pocketed another $2,000, totaling $10,000 thus far, but $4,000 is still owed.

With only $1,000 in total notes circulating, people obviously cannot continue to pay, so there is one thing left and that is the confiscation of their assets, and the remaining $1,000 in total notes circulating. Can you say BANKRUPTCY. (which is now almost impossible)

A History of Money and the FED

Oh, I know says the goldsmith, I'll just have to keep lending this counterfeit money backed by nothing so they can work hard for me for free, and I will own every asset on this planet for free. So the goldsmith starts to lend out money again and lends out $10,000 the first year which again causes the BOOM. And, on and on it goes.

The only difference today is that there is no limit to the lending, so there's continual money being created which forces us to fight each other to get our hands on it, to pay back our own share of debt, while the price of everything skyrockets endlessly.

And, the goldsmith's are now called the Federal Reserve System and the funny money counterfeit notes are called Federal Reserve Notes. In the 1930's there was roughly $16 Billion in gold at Fort Knox, and now we owe $8,339,711,774,335.