Ray Uhric
My answers to important questions that are skillfully avoided or ignored by our political
leaders, academic leaders, media reporters and pundits:
Social security and Medicare
Question: Politicians, pundits, economists and academics constantly tell us that social security and
Medicare are going broke – why do they (almost) never mention the fact that the politicians have
raided trillions of dollars from the “trust funds?”
Answer: They don’t want to face the public outrage when the American people realize that the
politicians have no intention of paying the raided money back. The reason the money won’t be
repaid is obvious; with an 11.4 trillion dollar national debt and a 2 trillion dollar budget deficit, where
will they get the money to pay back the trust funds? Under our current monetary system, they can’t
pay the money back because the necessary money doesn’t exist. Our social security and Medicare
money has been permanently factored into the federal budget!
There is another possible reason why they never mention the stolen money. Do Wall Street and the
business community want social security destroyed? A radio conversation that I had with a nationally
syndicated “expert” financial advisor perfectly illustrates this possibility. I called him when he was
talking about social security and Medicare running out of money. I asked him why I am constantly told
social security is going broke but (almost) never told that politicians are spending every penny of the
so-called “surplus.” He said he did mention it on a previous show – which I missed. Then he said,
“That’s why we have to ‘save’ as much money as we can so we don’t have to depend on the
government.” What a self-serving obfuscation of this vitally important issue. When he tells me to
“save as much money as I can,” he actually means give my money to him because he is a Certified
Financial Planner and he owns an investment company. What a clever marketing head fake. He
seditiously trashes “the government” while ignoring the actions of the fiscally irresponsible politicians
who caused the problem by spending the trust fund money and permitting the globalization and
financialisation of our economy.
He assumes that the audience is too stupid to realize that the destruction of social security by the
politicians (or the loss of faith in the system) will directly benefit him personally. The destruction of a
vitally important financial safety net for the American people is of no consequence as long as it puts
money into the financial services “industry.” It is standard procedure for financial advisors,
conservative pundits, politicians and academics to do everything they can to undermine our faith in
the viability of the social security system.
How would the destruction of social security benefit the business community? The answer is
obvious. With no social security system, there is no employer contribution to so-called “trust fund.”
What a windfall for American business.
And don’t look to academia for any useful information. I was given this gem of “wisdom” from one of
the few university professors who would talk to me: “The politicians aren’t stealing your social security
and Medicare money, they’re spending it.” What? He lost me there. Here is the ugly truth: until the
money raided from the social security and Medicare trust funds is replaced, and not with our tax
money, raided from the general fund, that money is STOLEN, period. The fact that a PhD
university professor can’t figure that out reveals a serious flaw in our system of “higher
education.”
What can we do? We must demand a complete and public audit of the social security and
Medicare trust funds. We need to know when the politicians first started raiding the trust funds. What
was the justification for raiding the trust funds? Did the politicians “unify” the budget, that is, put
social security money into the general fund in order to finance the Vietnam War? Who voted for this
“unified budget”? Exactly how much money is missing? When will it be repaid and where will the
politicians get the money?
According to the law, the missing money will be repaid using future tax revenues – our money! That
dishonest slight of hand is not acceptable. If I loan you fifty dollars, you can’t borrow another fifty
dollars from me to pay me back.
What will a public audit of the trust funds reveal? Setting aside the ridiculous notion that the
politicians will pay us back with our money, will an audit reveal that nothing has been paid back?
The only way for the raided money to be legitimately and legally replaced is with debt free, inflation
free United States Notes (Greenbacks.) For an explanation of how this can be done and the legal
justification please return to my home page and click “How We Can Fix Social Security and
Medicare, in 55 Words.
Universal health care
Question: How will we pay for universal health care?
Answer: With debt free United States Notes. Every time a Democrat, or a liberal, or a
progressive comes up with a plan for universal health care, a Republican, or a conservative or a Blue
Dog Democrat asks the heretofore, unanswerable question – how will we pay for it? Now we have
the answer to that question. Actually, we’ve had the answer since 1865.
One of the many flaws in our free market, globalized, deregulated, capitalist economic system is that
people who do useful, productive work don’t have health care. And people with useless, non-
productive, superfluous, “jobs,” occupations or situations do have health care. If you can afford it, you
get it. How you got the money to pay for it is a question that is never asked. There are people who
inherit millions or billions – but they are never required to do useful, productive work. They can afford
the best health care money can buy. They don’t have to make any painful or dangerous “choices”
with their health care. They don’t have to worry about losing their health care when they lose their
job.
How many lives have been devastated by the loss of health care insurance when workers lose their
jobs? How many working people simply can’t afford the cost of health care insurance? “Choosing”
your level of coverage based on what you can afford is barbaric, especially when the capitalist
system conspires to pay you as little as possible. The conservative “answer” that out of work people
and the working poor “have the emergency room” is a vicious joke. This is a bad system and if we
are a just society, we must fix it.
Now I know there are talk show hosts out there who will say: “this is none of your business.” To those
talk show hosts I will simply say: I’m making it my business!
We are told there is a huge national problem because the cost of health care is rising at some
multiple of the inflation rate. The cost is not the problem. The way money is distributed in our free
market, globalized, deregulated, capitalist economic system is the problem. For decades wages
have been stagnant or declining. People are unemployed or underemployed. This lowers the
inflation rate. In the same time frame, wonderful new treatments and technologies have been coming
on line in the medical field. Tremendous amounts of money have been spent on medical education,
research and development. All this costs lots of money and the cost is justified. The problem is with
our economic system, not the health care system.
We are told that we spend more money on health care per capita than any other industrialized
country and yet we have results that are lower than those countries. Could it be that some hospitals
operate on the cheap to fatten the bottom line? My experience is that we have great doctors in this
country. But without naming names, I will say that some hospitals are understaffed and poorly
equipped. These two problems can certainly contribute to unsatisfactory treatment outcomes. These
problems can be easily fixed with more money. And now we know how we will pay for it.
Do we need universal health care? Of course we do. Can we pay for it? Of course we can with debt
free, inflation free United States Notes.
The national debt
Question: Under our debt based monetary system, is it impossible to pay off our national debt?
Why did our political leaders ignore Bill Still’s 1996 Money Masters series?
Answer: According to Bill Still, producer of the excellent (and suppressed) Money Masters series
and economists in the monetary reform movement, the shocking answer to the first question is yes.
The former head of the Federal Reserve (Fed), Mariner Eccles admitted in Congressional testimony:
“If there were no debts in our money system, there would be no money.” The Fed prints currency and
releases it into the economy, or withdraws it from the economy, through open market transactions (i.
e., the buying and selling of government bonds, that is: government debt.)
Today, with quantitative easing and Federal Reserve issuance of “high powered money,” the above
statement is no longer literally correct. However, these are only temporary, emergency measures and
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has solemnly promised to withdraw this money from the economy as
soon as possible. The government debt will remain as a permanent lash across the backs of the
American taxpayers. When you read Abraham Lincoln’s brilliant monetary policy statement on the
home page of this web site, it will become obvious that our national debt is a gigantic scam and a
scandal. This is why, for more than five years, no politician, pundit, academic or economist will
openly debate this issue with me in a public forum. Bill Still exposed the national debt scandal back
in 1996. This is why our politicians and the media ignored the Money Masters series; they didn’t
want anybody asking embarrassing questions.
Question: In 1835 President Andrew Jackson paid off the national debt. In 1862 President
Abraham Lincoln proved that the government does not have to borrow money from the private sector
to finance its operations. (Some historians believe this was the real reason Lincoln was
assassinated.) If the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the authority to issue debt free money, why
do we have an
11.4 trillion dollar national debt and a 2 trillion dollar budget deficit?
Answer: Our national debt is a gigantic cash cow for people who want to make money without
working. Our national debt is the perfect place for stock speculators to “park their money” when they
crash the equity markets. When “capitulation” is complete, they can sell the government debt and
reinvest in the markets and “shop for bargains” at pennies on the dollar. To moneylenders (usurers),
debt, all debt, including government debt, is a “product.” This product is bought and sold around the
world. To a usurer, government debt is good and the more the better. Government debt is a weapon
conservatives use to attack vital government programs such as social security and Medicare, which
they hate. They want everyone, including the disabled and vulnerable old people to be totally at the
mercy of the private sector. Massive debt also starves the government of money needed for vitally
important oversight and regulation, which conservatives also hate. Campaign contributions, fat
speaking fees, contributions to favorite “charities” and presidential libraries, lobbyists, university
endowments, lucrative “jobs” in the private sector, advertising revenue, corporate funding for PBS,
highly paid cushy jobs in worthless “think tanks,” and other payoffs will ensure that the media,
academia and politicians never acknowledge fact that our national debt is a scam and a scandal.
Question: Alice Rivlin (an economist in the Clinton Administration) said: Federal Reserve Chairman
“Alan Greenspan worried that the [Clinton] surplus was so large that we would pay off the whole
national debt.” Why was Greenspan ”worried?” Why did Greenspan think paying off the national
debt would be a problem?
Answer: According to Bill Still, as reported in the Money Masters, “If you extinguish the national debt,
you extinguish the money supply.” As head of the Federal Reserve, Greenspan knew (just like former
Fed chairman Marriner Eccles knew) that our current money system is based on debt.
The current global recession and credit crisis
Question: Lack of regulation and oversight of the banking “industry” caused the current recession
and credit crisis. Why do liberals, progressives and Democrats meekly and silently let conservative
politicians, pundits and talk show hosts blame “government regulation” for the current economic and
financial mess when the exact opposite is true?
Answer: Sorry, I can’t answer this question. Somebody should ask them. .
Question: Why do liberals, progressives and Democrats meekly and silently let conservative pundits
and talk show hosts blame the Community Reinvestment Act for the Mortgage Meltdown when this is
not true? Conservatives say “The government forced banks to give mortgages to people who couldn’
t afford them.”
Answer: Democrats are reluctant to talk about the causes of the mortgage crisis because they were
partners with the Republicans in the deregulation that caused the crisis. Rather than defend the CRA
here, again, I recommend an Internet search of the CRA. There are plenty of articles that debunk the
false accusations that the CRA caused the mortgage crisis.
It is much better to discuss the mortgage “industry” in general. I will be repeating points I made
elsewhere on this web site but it is worth the time and effort. The banks, not the CRA, set the terms
of the toxic mortgages. The disaster was caused by the greed and irresponsible actions of
everybody involved in issuing and “securitizing” the toxic mortgages. Conservatives like to blame the
people who took the mortgages for the current mess. This is nonsense. It was up to the lender to just
say NO. Was it the fault of the CRA that the lenders didn’t do credit checks or set proper credit
limits? Was it the fault of the CRA that the rating agencies issued bogus AAA ratings to get fat
fees? Did the CRA force banks to make huge profits “securitizing” garbage mortgages? Did the
CRA create the derivatives that were based on the stupid fantasy that the housing bubble would
inflate forever? Was it the CRA or was it the so-called regulators who looked the other way when
worthless, unsecured derivative contracts being were written and spread around the world. I could go
on but the simple fact is that the CRA did not cause the mortgage meltdown. But facts don’t get in
the way of conservative propaganda. Unfortunately, the liberals, progressives and Democrats don’t
call the conservative talk shows and effectively set the record straight.
Now, incredibly, nobody holds the anti-regulation “regulators” accountable for the disaster. We need
to clean house and staff the regulatory agencies with uncorrupted bureaucrats who won’t look the
other way. No bankers allowed. But instead, the proposed “solution” to regulatory mess is to give
regulatory oversight to the Federal Reserve! Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was one of
the main enablers of the recklessness that almost brought down the global financial system. This
solution would be a classic case of the fox guarding the hen house -- a solution only Wall Street could
love. You don’t give oversight of the banks to a bank.
Question: Why do liberals, progressives and Democrats meekly and silently let conservative pundits
and talk show hosts blame “cheap money” i.e., low interest rates for the mortgage meltdown?
Answer: They might be so ignorant that they actually believe this nonsense. Cheap money from the
Federal Reserve means that banks could have issued low interest, fixed rate mortgages to people
with low incomes. And a credit check would have determined how much the borrower could afford.
What could be simpler? This isn’t rocket science.
Question: Why do conservative politicians and industry “experts” say that securitization is vital to the
mortgage industry when securitization was one of the main causes of the mortgage disaster?
Answer: Securitization, bundling and selling mortgages to “investors” around the world, is usury run
amuck. But it was a lucrative cash cow, like our national debt, for people who want to make money
without working. This is the reason we are told securitization is vital to the mortgage industry. I
explained elsewhere on this web site that the mortgage “industry” is nothing but a scam. And
securitization is the scam on steroids.
To the moneylenders who sniff and whine about the risk they take, I will simply say: risk isn’t work.
Abraham Lincoln proved that we don’t need risk taking moneylenders. Thanks the usurers; the world
is being strangled by debt. If the moneylenders want an income, they should get a job.
Am I saying that all banks should be shut down? No. I’m saying that the government has the right
and the responsibility to regulate interest rates and credit limits. Despite conservative obfuscation to
the contrary, unregulated interest rates and unregulated credit limits are what caused the mortgage
crisis. This is a fact. Profit hungry, irresponsible bankers are what caused the mortgage crisis and
this crisis started the cascade that nearly brought down the house of cards global financial system.
And now the taxpayers have to put it back together.
The banking “industry” like the insurance “industry” is nothing but an over compensated (at the top),
unduly powerful private sector bureaucracy. The government could perform both functions much
better and cheaper. Without the corrupting influence of the profit motive, America and the world
wouldn’t be drowning in debt. And insurance would about paying claims and not about chasing
profits and gambling in the financial markets.
Fractional reserve banking
Question: Where did the money go? What happened to all the money that disappeared from the
global financial system that taxpayers around the world now have to replace?
Answer: At the beginning of this current, so-called, “business cycle,” the markets crashed, credit
dried up and the banks had to be “rescued” – again. The taxpayers had to rescue the banks by
giving them money. Why? Why do us taxpayers have to give the banks money so the banks
can loan it back to us at interest?! Where did the bank’s money go? What the hell kind of
banking system do we have? Answer: a fractional reserve banking system. Isn’t it wonderful? Oh,
by the way, there are a trillion dollars of private capital sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the
taxpayers to “recapitalize” the banks. Why do we let the financial markets play us for suckers?
So, where did the money go that the taxpayers have to replace with the borrowed TARP money and
the borrowed TALF money? Answer: nowhere, the money never existed. That’s the way the
fractional reserve banking system works. The banks can loan ten dollars (in some cases thirty) for
every dollar that they get from the Federal Reserve. How can you get nine dollars out of thin air?
Don’t ask me, the fractional reserve system never made sense to me. Does this system work?
Recurring bank runs, financial collapses and bailouts prove conclusively that it doesn’t work. On the
other hand, if you are an insider, and you sell right before the crash, for you, the system works very
well indeed.
In 1996 Bill Still released the Money Masters series in which he clearly warned of the dangers of
fractional reserve banking. He even predicted the current global financial crisis. Why was he
ignored? I think Alan Greenspan should answer that question.
In 1865, Abraham Lincoln proposed a much better system than fractional reserve banking. His
system can be found on the home page of this web site. Lincoln would have put a stop to bank runs,
financial panics and taxpayer bailouts. Tragically, a few weeks after he proposed his monetary
reforms, he was assassinated.
Question: Why do our politicians permit the banks to engage in fractional reserve lending? Is this a
way to make sure that there will always be another “business cycle” to wreck the economy and restart
the “creative destruction” process again and again and again…?
Answer: In 1996 Bill Still released the Money Masters series and it was aired on the local Christian
television station. Mr. Still clearly explained how fractional reserve banking is the cause of financial
“panics,” recessions and depressions. Briefly, the problem is this: the banks destroy their capital
reserves, credit dries up, the economy crashes and we have a brand new “business cycle.” To put a
stop to the recurring credit crisis induced recessions, Mr. Still recommended the abolition of
fractional reserve banking. Of course, he was ignored and so today we now have a brand new
credit crisis/recession/business cycle to shake down unwary investors around the world. A quick
Internet search will reveal that, despite the disastrous results, fractional reserve banking is the rule.
And this rule is taught as standard doctrine in every economics class in the world. People pay
money to be “taught” that there is no alternative to fractional reserve banking and that the phony
business cycles are “normal.”
Fixing the economy: United States Notes (Greenbacks)
-- the perfect economic stimulus
Question: Why do we have to borrow money from China, Japan and the Middle East to finance our
government operations and support our economy?
Answer: Surprise, we don’t! This was the truth that Abraham Lincoln was trying to tell us in 1865,
that John F. Kennedy was trying to tell us in 1963 and Bill Still was trying to tell us in 1996. For more
than five years I have been trying to explain this to politicians and government officials from the local
level all the way up to and including President Barack Obama. Unfortunately, I ran into a stonewall of
silence.
Rather than repeat my monetary reform and economic stimulus proposals, (they are outlined
elsewhere on this web site) I will state some simple, irrefutable facts.
United States Notes are legal tender. United States Notes are interchangeable with Federal
Reserve Notes. United States Notes are currently part of our money supply. Congress can legally
authorize and the U.S. Treasury can issue any amount required to stimulate the economy without
borrowing from the credit markets. The taxpayers never had to recapitalize the banks. When the
banks refused to loan money into the economy, thus creating the current recession, the government
could have loaned debt free money into the economy at 0% interest and instantly ended the
recession. This isn’t rocket science.
We must demand a written, public response from our leaders to the questions
and answers that are contained in this article.
Please call, write, E-mail or fax the White House, The U.S. House and Senate, the local and
national media and tell them about this web site. Specifically contact the offices of Senator Bob
Casey and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Treasury issued, debt free money, not more debt, is the only solution to America’s economic and
financial problems. We must have widespread, massive public pressure in order to force sweeping
economic and monetary reform. The current policies will only lead to financial ruin.
Ray Uhric July 28, 2009
…………………………………………………………………..
********COMING ATTRACTIONS********
Myths about the Great Depression – exposed
The New Deal defended
Dangerous economic myths -- exposed
Exposing the myth that “the government can’t create jobs”
Exposing the myth that “only the private sector can create jobs”
Exposing the myth that “the government can’t create prosperity”
Exposing the myth that “only the private sector can create prosperity”
The case for central planning
Little known catastrophic policy blunders that changed the course of history
Do we “need” China? Does this “partnership” hurt America?
Why a “jobless recovery?”
A sensible, humane alternative to the global economy
Have American capitalists abandoned America?
The Smoot-Hawley tariff and protectionism defended
A sane and sensible energy policy
Why do people around the world hate us?
The truth about free trade
What are the consequences of the “free flow of capital?”
The truth about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
What is greed inflation?
Sedition on conservative talk radio
The end of unemployment
Protecting the pensions of the people who earned them
Fixing the tax code
Must there be working poor?
Do we have to have banana republics in order to have bananas?
What is “pump and dump?”
Why does “raising taxes cost millions of jobs?”
What is economic blackmail?
Why does our tax code reward companies for shipping jobs overseas?
Does buying and selling stocks serve and useful purpose?
An objective look at bonds
********AND MUCH MORE********
leaders, academic leaders, media reporters and pundits:
Social security and Medicare
Question: Politicians, pundits, economists and academics constantly tell us that social security and
Medicare are going broke – why do they (almost) never mention the fact that the politicians have
raided trillions of dollars from the “trust funds?”
Answer: They don’t want to face the public outrage when the American people realize that the
politicians have no intention of paying the raided money back. The reason the money won’t be
repaid is obvious; with an 11.4 trillion dollar national debt and a 2 trillion dollar budget deficit, where
will they get the money to pay back the trust funds? Under our current monetary system, they can’t
pay the money back because the necessary money doesn’t exist. Our social security and Medicare
money has been permanently factored into the federal budget!
There is another possible reason why they never mention the stolen money. Do Wall Street and the
business community want social security destroyed? A radio conversation that I had with a nationally
syndicated “expert” financial advisor perfectly illustrates this possibility. I called him when he was
talking about social security and Medicare running out of money. I asked him why I am constantly told
social security is going broke but (almost) never told that politicians are spending every penny of the
so-called “surplus.” He said he did mention it on a previous show – which I missed. Then he said,
“That’s why we have to ‘save’ as much money as we can so we don’t have to depend on the
government.” What a self-serving obfuscation of this vitally important issue. When he tells me to
“save as much money as I can,” he actually means give my money to him because he is a Certified
Financial Planner and he owns an investment company. What a clever marketing head fake. He
seditiously trashes “the government” while ignoring the actions of the fiscally irresponsible politicians
who caused the problem by spending the trust fund money and permitting the globalization and
financialisation of our economy.
He assumes that the audience is too stupid to realize that the destruction of social security by the
politicians (or the loss of faith in the system) will directly benefit him personally. The destruction of a
vitally important financial safety net for the American people is of no consequence as long as it puts
money into the financial services “industry.” It is standard procedure for financial advisors,
conservative pundits, politicians and academics to do everything they can to undermine our faith in
the viability of the social security system.
How would the destruction of social security benefit the business community? The answer is
obvious. With no social security system, there is no employer contribution to so-called “trust fund.”
What a windfall for American business.
And don’t look to academia for any useful information. I was given this gem of “wisdom” from one of
the few university professors who would talk to me: “The politicians aren’t stealing your social security
and Medicare money, they’re spending it.” What? He lost me there. Here is the ugly truth: until the
money raided from the social security and Medicare trust funds is replaced, and not with our tax
money, raided from the general fund, that money is STOLEN, period. The fact that a PhD
university professor can’t figure that out reveals a serious flaw in our system of “higher
education.”
What can we do? We must demand a complete and public audit of the social security and
Medicare trust funds. We need to know when the politicians first started raiding the trust funds. What
was the justification for raiding the trust funds? Did the politicians “unify” the budget, that is, put
social security money into the general fund in order to finance the Vietnam War? Who voted for this
“unified budget”? Exactly how much money is missing? When will it be repaid and where will the
politicians get the money?
According to the law, the missing money will be repaid using future tax revenues – our money! That
dishonest slight of hand is not acceptable. If I loan you fifty dollars, you can’t borrow another fifty
dollars from me to pay me back.
What will a public audit of the trust funds reveal? Setting aside the ridiculous notion that the
politicians will pay us back with our money, will an audit reveal that nothing has been paid back?
The only way for the raided money to be legitimately and legally replaced is with debt free, inflation
free United States Notes (Greenbacks.) For an explanation of how this can be done and the legal
justification please return to my home page and click “How We Can Fix Social Security and
Medicare, in 55 Words.
Universal health care
Question: How will we pay for universal health care?
Answer: With debt free United States Notes. Every time a Democrat, or a liberal, or a
progressive comes up with a plan for universal health care, a Republican, or a conservative or a Blue
Dog Democrat asks the heretofore, unanswerable question – how will we pay for it? Now we have
the answer to that question. Actually, we’ve had the answer since 1865.
One of the many flaws in our free market, globalized, deregulated, capitalist economic system is that
people who do useful, productive work don’t have health care. And people with useless, non-
productive, superfluous, “jobs,” occupations or situations do have health care. If you can afford it, you
get it. How you got the money to pay for it is a question that is never asked. There are people who
inherit millions or billions – but they are never required to do useful, productive work. They can afford
the best health care money can buy. They don’t have to make any painful or dangerous “choices”
with their health care. They don’t have to worry about losing their health care when they lose their
job.
How many lives have been devastated by the loss of health care insurance when workers lose their
jobs? How many working people simply can’t afford the cost of health care insurance? “Choosing”
your level of coverage based on what you can afford is barbaric, especially when the capitalist
system conspires to pay you as little as possible. The conservative “answer” that out of work people
and the working poor “have the emergency room” is a vicious joke. This is a bad system and if we
are a just society, we must fix it.
Now I know there are talk show hosts out there who will say: “this is none of your business.” To those
talk show hosts I will simply say: I’m making it my business!
We are told there is a huge national problem because the cost of health care is rising at some
multiple of the inflation rate. The cost is not the problem. The way money is distributed in our free
market, globalized, deregulated, capitalist economic system is the problem. For decades wages
have been stagnant or declining. People are unemployed or underemployed. This lowers the
inflation rate. In the same time frame, wonderful new treatments and technologies have been coming
on line in the medical field. Tremendous amounts of money have been spent on medical education,
research and development. All this costs lots of money and the cost is justified. The problem is with
our economic system, not the health care system.
We are told that we spend more money on health care per capita than any other industrialized
country and yet we have results that are lower than those countries. Could it be that some hospitals
operate on the cheap to fatten the bottom line? My experience is that we have great doctors in this
country. But without naming names, I will say that some hospitals are understaffed and poorly
equipped. These two problems can certainly contribute to unsatisfactory treatment outcomes. These
problems can be easily fixed with more money. And now we know how we will pay for it.
Do we need universal health care? Of course we do. Can we pay for it? Of course we can with debt
free, inflation free United States Notes.
The national debt
Question: Under our debt based monetary system, is it impossible to pay off our national debt?
Why did our political leaders ignore Bill Still’s 1996 Money Masters series?
Answer: According to Bill Still, producer of the excellent (and suppressed) Money Masters series
and economists in the monetary reform movement, the shocking answer to the first question is yes.
The former head of the Federal Reserve (Fed), Mariner Eccles admitted in Congressional testimony:
“If there were no debts in our money system, there would be no money.” The Fed prints currency and
releases it into the economy, or withdraws it from the economy, through open market transactions (i.
e., the buying and selling of government bonds, that is: government debt.)
Today, with quantitative easing and Federal Reserve issuance of “high powered money,” the above
statement is no longer literally correct. However, these are only temporary, emergency measures and
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has solemnly promised to withdraw this money from the economy as
soon as possible. The government debt will remain as a permanent lash across the backs of the
American taxpayers. When you read Abraham Lincoln’s brilliant monetary policy statement on the
home page of this web site, it will become obvious that our national debt is a gigantic scam and a
scandal. This is why, for more than five years, no politician, pundit, academic or economist will
openly debate this issue with me in a public forum. Bill Still exposed the national debt scandal back
in 1996. This is why our politicians and the media ignored the Money Masters series; they didn’t
want anybody asking embarrassing questions.
Question: In 1835 President Andrew Jackson paid off the national debt. In 1862 President
Abraham Lincoln proved that the government does not have to borrow money from the private sector
to finance its operations. (Some historians believe this was the real reason Lincoln was
assassinated.) If the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the authority to issue debt free money, why
do we have an
11.4 trillion dollar national debt and a 2 trillion dollar budget deficit?
Answer: Our national debt is a gigantic cash cow for people who want to make money without
working. Our national debt is the perfect place for stock speculators to “park their money” when they
crash the equity markets. When “capitulation” is complete, they can sell the government debt and
reinvest in the markets and “shop for bargains” at pennies on the dollar. To moneylenders (usurers),
debt, all debt, including government debt, is a “product.” This product is bought and sold around the
world. To a usurer, government debt is good and the more the better. Government debt is a weapon
conservatives use to attack vital government programs such as social security and Medicare, which
they hate. They want everyone, including the disabled and vulnerable old people to be totally at the
mercy of the private sector. Massive debt also starves the government of money needed for vitally
important oversight and regulation, which conservatives also hate. Campaign contributions, fat
speaking fees, contributions to favorite “charities” and presidential libraries, lobbyists, university
endowments, lucrative “jobs” in the private sector, advertising revenue, corporate funding for PBS,
highly paid cushy jobs in worthless “think tanks,” and other payoffs will ensure that the media,
academia and politicians never acknowledge fact that our national debt is a scam and a scandal.
Question: Alice Rivlin (an economist in the Clinton Administration) said: Federal Reserve Chairman
“Alan Greenspan worried that the [Clinton] surplus was so large that we would pay off the whole
national debt.” Why was Greenspan ”worried?” Why did Greenspan think paying off the national
debt would be a problem?
Answer: According to Bill Still, as reported in the Money Masters, “If you extinguish the national debt,
you extinguish the money supply.” As head of the Federal Reserve, Greenspan knew (just like former
Fed chairman Marriner Eccles knew) that our current money system is based on debt.
The current global recession and credit crisis
Question: Lack of regulation and oversight of the banking “industry” caused the current recession
and credit crisis. Why do liberals, progressives and Democrats meekly and silently let conservative
politicians, pundits and talk show hosts blame “government regulation” for the current economic and
financial mess when the exact opposite is true?
Answer: Sorry, I can’t answer this question. Somebody should ask them. .
Question: Why do liberals, progressives and Democrats meekly and silently let conservative pundits
and talk show hosts blame the Community Reinvestment Act for the Mortgage Meltdown when this is
not true? Conservatives say “The government forced banks to give mortgages to people who couldn’
t afford them.”
Answer: Democrats are reluctant to talk about the causes of the mortgage crisis because they were
partners with the Republicans in the deregulation that caused the crisis. Rather than defend the CRA
here, again, I recommend an Internet search of the CRA. There are plenty of articles that debunk the
false accusations that the CRA caused the mortgage crisis.
It is much better to discuss the mortgage “industry” in general. I will be repeating points I made
elsewhere on this web site but it is worth the time and effort. The banks, not the CRA, set the terms
of the toxic mortgages. The disaster was caused by the greed and irresponsible actions of
everybody involved in issuing and “securitizing” the toxic mortgages. Conservatives like to blame the
people who took the mortgages for the current mess. This is nonsense. It was up to the lender to just
say NO. Was it the fault of the CRA that the lenders didn’t do credit checks or set proper credit
limits? Was it the fault of the CRA that the rating agencies issued bogus AAA ratings to get fat
fees? Did the CRA force banks to make huge profits “securitizing” garbage mortgages? Did the
CRA create the derivatives that were based on the stupid fantasy that the housing bubble would
inflate forever? Was it the CRA or was it the so-called regulators who looked the other way when
worthless, unsecured derivative contracts being were written and spread around the world. I could go
on but the simple fact is that the CRA did not cause the mortgage meltdown. But facts don’t get in
the way of conservative propaganda. Unfortunately, the liberals, progressives and Democrats don’t
call the conservative talk shows and effectively set the record straight.
Now, incredibly, nobody holds the anti-regulation “regulators” accountable for the disaster. We need
to clean house and staff the regulatory agencies with uncorrupted bureaucrats who won’t look the
other way. No bankers allowed. But instead, the proposed “solution” to regulatory mess is to give
regulatory oversight to the Federal Reserve! Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was one of
the main enablers of the recklessness that almost brought down the global financial system. This
solution would be a classic case of the fox guarding the hen house -- a solution only Wall Street could
love. You don’t give oversight of the banks to a bank.
Question: Why do liberals, progressives and Democrats meekly and silently let conservative pundits
and talk show hosts blame “cheap money” i.e., low interest rates for the mortgage meltdown?
Answer: They might be so ignorant that they actually believe this nonsense. Cheap money from the
Federal Reserve means that banks could have issued low interest, fixed rate mortgages to people
with low incomes. And a credit check would have determined how much the borrower could afford.
What could be simpler? This isn’t rocket science.
Question: Why do conservative politicians and industry “experts” say that securitization is vital to the
mortgage industry when securitization was one of the main causes of the mortgage disaster?
Answer: Securitization, bundling and selling mortgages to “investors” around the world, is usury run
amuck. But it was a lucrative cash cow, like our national debt, for people who want to make money
without working. This is the reason we are told securitization is vital to the mortgage industry. I
explained elsewhere on this web site that the mortgage “industry” is nothing but a scam. And
securitization is the scam on steroids.
To the moneylenders who sniff and whine about the risk they take, I will simply say: risk isn’t work.
Abraham Lincoln proved that we don’t need risk taking moneylenders. Thanks the usurers; the world
is being strangled by debt. If the moneylenders want an income, they should get a job.
Am I saying that all banks should be shut down? No. I’m saying that the government has the right
and the responsibility to regulate interest rates and credit limits. Despite conservative obfuscation to
the contrary, unregulated interest rates and unregulated credit limits are what caused the mortgage
crisis. This is a fact. Profit hungry, irresponsible bankers are what caused the mortgage crisis and
this crisis started the cascade that nearly brought down the house of cards global financial system.
And now the taxpayers have to put it back together.
The banking “industry” like the insurance “industry” is nothing but an over compensated (at the top),
unduly powerful private sector bureaucracy. The government could perform both functions much
better and cheaper. Without the corrupting influence of the profit motive, America and the world
wouldn’t be drowning in debt. And insurance would about paying claims and not about chasing
profits and gambling in the financial markets.
Fractional reserve banking
Question: Where did the money go? What happened to all the money that disappeared from the
global financial system that taxpayers around the world now have to replace?
Answer: At the beginning of this current, so-called, “business cycle,” the markets crashed, credit
dried up and the banks had to be “rescued” – again. The taxpayers had to rescue the banks by
giving them money. Why? Why do us taxpayers have to give the banks money so the banks
can loan it back to us at interest?! Where did the bank’s money go? What the hell kind of
banking system do we have? Answer: a fractional reserve banking system. Isn’t it wonderful? Oh,
by the way, there are a trillion dollars of private capital sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the
taxpayers to “recapitalize” the banks. Why do we let the financial markets play us for suckers?
So, where did the money go that the taxpayers have to replace with the borrowed TARP money and
the borrowed TALF money? Answer: nowhere, the money never existed. That’s the way the
fractional reserve banking system works. The banks can loan ten dollars (in some cases thirty) for
every dollar that they get from the Federal Reserve. How can you get nine dollars out of thin air?
Don’t ask me, the fractional reserve system never made sense to me. Does this system work?
Recurring bank runs, financial collapses and bailouts prove conclusively that it doesn’t work. On the
other hand, if you are an insider, and you sell right before the crash, for you, the system works very
well indeed.
In 1996 Bill Still released the Money Masters series in which he clearly warned of the dangers of
fractional reserve banking. He even predicted the current global financial crisis. Why was he
ignored? I think Alan Greenspan should answer that question.
In 1865, Abraham Lincoln proposed a much better system than fractional reserve banking. His
system can be found on the home page of this web site. Lincoln would have put a stop to bank runs,
financial panics and taxpayer bailouts. Tragically, a few weeks after he proposed his monetary
reforms, he was assassinated.
Question: Why do our politicians permit the banks to engage in fractional reserve lending? Is this a
way to make sure that there will always be another “business cycle” to wreck the economy and restart
the “creative destruction” process again and again and again…?
Answer: In 1996 Bill Still released the Money Masters series and it was aired on the local Christian
television station. Mr. Still clearly explained how fractional reserve banking is the cause of financial
“panics,” recessions and depressions. Briefly, the problem is this: the banks destroy their capital
reserves, credit dries up, the economy crashes and we have a brand new “business cycle.” To put a
stop to the recurring credit crisis induced recessions, Mr. Still recommended the abolition of
fractional reserve banking. Of course, he was ignored and so today we now have a brand new
credit crisis/recession/business cycle to shake down unwary investors around the world. A quick
Internet search will reveal that, despite the disastrous results, fractional reserve banking is the rule.
And this rule is taught as standard doctrine in every economics class in the world. People pay
money to be “taught” that there is no alternative to fractional reserve banking and that the phony
business cycles are “normal.”
Fixing the economy: United States Notes (Greenbacks)
-- the perfect economic stimulus
Question: Why do we have to borrow money from China, Japan and the Middle East to finance our
government operations and support our economy?
Answer: Surprise, we don’t! This was the truth that Abraham Lincoln was trying to tell us in 1865,
that John F. Kennedy was trying to tell us in 1963 and Bill Still was trying to tell us in 1996. For more
than five years I have been trying to explain this to politicians and government officials from the local
level all the way up to and including President Barack Obama. Unfortunately, I ran into a stonewall of
silence.
Rather than repeat my monetary reform and economic stimulus proposals, (they are outlined
elsewhere on this web site) I will state some simple, irrefutable facts.
United States Notes are legal tender. United States Notes are interchangeable with Federal
Reserve Notes. United States Notes are currently part of our money supply. Congress can legally
authorize and the U.S. Treasury can issue any amount required to stimulate the economy without
borrowing from the credit markets. The taxpayers never had to recapitalize the banks. When the
banks refused to loan money into the economy, thus creating the current recession, the government
could have loaned debt free money into the economy at 0% interest and instantly ended the
recession. This isn’t rocket science.
We must demand a written, public response from our leaders to the questions
and answers that are contained in this article.
Please call, write, E-mail or fax the White House, The U.S. House and Senate, the local and
national media and tell them about this web site. Specifically contact the offices of Senator Bob
Casey and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Treasury issued, debt free money, not more debt, is the only solution to America’s economic and
financial problems. We must have widespread, massive public pressure in order to force sweeping
economic and monetary reform. The current policies will only lead to financial ruin.
Ray Uhric July 28, 2009
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********COMING ATTRACTIONS********
Myths about the Great Depression – exposed
The New Deal defended
Dangerous economic myths -- exposed
Exposing the myth that “the government can’t create jobs”
Exposing the myth that “only the private sector can create jobs”
Exposing the myth that “the government can’t create prosperity”
Exposing the myth that “only the private sector can create prosperity”
The case for central planning
Little known catastrophic policy blunders that changed the course of history
Do we “need” China? Does this “partnership” hurt America?
Why a “jobless recovery?”
A sensible, humane alternative to the global economy
Have American capitalists abandoned America?
The Smoot-Hawley tariff and protectionism defended
A sane and sensible energy policy
Why do people around the world hate us?
The truth about free trade
What are the consequences of the “free flow of capital?”
The truth about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
What is greed inflation?
Sedition on conservative talk radio
The end of unemployment
Protecting the pensions of the people who earned them
Fixing the tax code
Must there be working poor?
Do we have to have banana republics in order to have bananas?
What is “pump and dump?”
Why does “raising taxes cost millions of jobs?”
What is economic blackmail?
Why does our tax code reward companies for shipping jobs overseas?
Does buying and selling stocks serve and useful purpose?
An objective look at bonds
********AND MUCH MORE********
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