200 Years Ago, We Didn't Have To Explain "Where Money Comes From" To All Citizens. More Knew Then Than Do Now!

   (Commentary posted by Roger Erickson)

Battle Over Banking: A Public Bank for the Republic of Vermont (1803)

The first part is is a fascinating historical story, for multiple reasons. 

First, for the mere fact that a savvy set of state legislators had it right from the beginning, like multiple American Colonies had done, previously. 

(Just like John Law had pointed out. Maybe he could read some Greek?)

Second, for the chilling story of how widespread bank monopolies conspired to do away with the Public Bank of Vermont.

Nothing much changes? The bank lobby is still winning, so far. Keeping us from further coordinating our own returns.

Bill Gross Close To Tripping Over The Definition of Fiat ... Let's Hope He Falls On A Dictionary

Commentary by Roger Erickson

Scrooge McDucks ... Say. Isn't that just an alias for Fiat McClucks? If it spends, taxes and lobbies by fiat ... maybe it IS all just fiat? Yet what good is fiat if we practice it on everything except thinking? Cluck, cluck. Poor McDuck. Clever enough to acquire a duck suit, but still no wiser than a chicken.

Bill Gross notes that extreme wealth disparity triggers declines in distributed savings, and declines in distributed investment too. Both are obvious, logical points. However, his ONLY suggestion is to tax the wealthy more?

Why? To get more fiat? For whom? For the issuer of public initiative contracts and public initiative coupons - i.e., fiat currency?

Note to Bill. The US Treasury doesn't need any fiat back. Beardsley Ruml said so, on page 35, 68 years ago!

Here's a hint to Bill. Let's assume the Treasury DID need to get some fiat back, in order to get more fiat to express. You know, in case the sky was falling. I'm just clucking! Bear, er .. duck with me.

1) What would it do with that extra fiat? Spend it on public contracts? :)

2) Who would get to earn and keep some of that extra fiat? Labor? But ONLY if their income increased more than their taxes did?

So, Bill, EVEN IF THE TREASURY DID NEED TO GET YOUR HOARDED FIAT CURRENCY BACK, IN ORDER TO HAVE SOME ... it would have to spend it and tax labor at lower rates to achieve anything with it.

So, count me dense, but ...

3) Why not just encourage the Treasury to spend more on labor NOW, instead of waiting to get your taxes back?

4) Why not just drastically reduce taxes on labor? NOW! Instead of waiting on both clawed-back fiat AND arbitrarily delayed initiation of further fiat?

What on earth is the difference between 1,2 versus 3,4? Only tempo?

And maybe parsimony? And even then, ONLY for this particular context? Yes, a fiat currency regime ALLOWS for an expanded Policy Space and increased Policy Agility. It guarantees neither, however. Only fiat combinations of awareness/initiative/intelligence guarantee faster/better/leaner application of fiscal and monetary policy tools.

What? Bill Gross says 3&4 might further reduce the buying power of his remaining private savings hoard MORE than strategy 1&2 did? Higher inflation than 1&2? Really? Maybe. It depends .. on a LOT of implementation details. Yet isn't increasing inflation just an increased tax on saved capital - i.e., just what Bill wants? And, hasn't Bill already concluded that the timeless purpose of national policy is to increase our real economic options, not just hoard fiat numerals in bank accounts?

Look Bill, mathematically, it hardly matters whether you raise taxes on capital faster than you raise taxes on labor ... OR ... you lower taxes on labor faster than you lower taxes on capital. Right now, please do whichever is bureaucratically simplest in our current situation. That is, use Occam's Razor. In a fiat currency regime, the difference between those two situations is purely a matter of semantics, not reality. Either way, the amount of fiat used to denominate a desired adaptive rate is a dimensionless number, one that scales with the size, adaptive rate, context and arbitrary habits of a given population. What matters is the social computation latency - and policy latency - required to recognize and implement adaptive policy. Reducing that latency across multiple situations STARTS by recognizing that 1,2 and 3,4 are mathematically the same.

You are VERY CLOSE to rediscovering the definition of "fiat." Go for it! Pull a Ruml.*

* What's that Ruml-ing I hear in the distance?

It's Official. US Politicians Are As Dumb (Or Corrupt) As Any Worldwide. USA POTUS Begging For Foreign Fiat

   (Commentary posted by Roger Erickson.)



Either that, or they believe PT Barnum's maxim, that they can never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the US electorate. How's that make YOU feel?

Either way, there are two discussions going on here. First, there are the literal words being presented, repeated, and heard, by many distinct audiences. Second, there's the single, underlying situation that ALL audiences are part of. Let's just hold ourselves to a higher standard, ignore the semantic inanities, and focus on real, Situational Awareness, and any Desired Outcomes which the USA can get to, from here.

Barack Obama to announce aggressive strategy to attract [foreign] investment

For Pete's sake!!! What does ANY nation need foreign fiat for? Alexander Hamilton & the rest of the Founders must be spinning in their graves, wondering how we could stoop to endorsing, and topping, the very stupidity which they rebelled against! Being railroaded into using foreign fiat, as opposed to organizing their own, collective fiat.  Why? Pray tell? What's the consensus, Desired Outcome? What makes Obama's preferred path more attractive than the other ones? Are there any attractions which are more equal (to him) than outcomes that seem attractive to the rest of us? What about any remaining attraction to what's left of a resilient Middle Class in the USA?

Faced with this level of imbecility - or fraud - it really would be far smarter for every community to just organize their own, Public Bank - IF this current electorate could keep the Control Frauds from owning all Public Banks too, within 5 years. Yet if we could do that, why not just have a citizens revolt, and take back control of our own, national public bank? Make the Fed a Public Fed? We couldn't possibly do any worse than the existing pit of Control Fraud vipers that rules the Fed for the gain of orthodox economists, not the nation.

Hell, while we're at it, why not have democracy seize control of all lobbying organizations, and their little Treasury and Congress too? Who OWNS this supposed democracy, anyway? Whomever is willing to act like owners? Non-gangsters can act like owners too you know, in theory, if there's any domestic fiat left, that is, distributed throughout our former Middle Class. Anyone else willing to step up and voluntarily alter their acting career? New roles beckon in an ongoing, epic feature reality play. The outcome depends entirely on the efforts of the current cast of characters.

We need to have an honest discussion about methods for achieving that conensus, Desired Outcome. NOT a discussion that keeps us conquered, divided, confused and distracted from even acknowledging the consensus Desired Outcome that we used to accept.

Meanwhile, is this ongoing move by mega-merchants a formal coup by the wealthy 1% everywhere, to rule the 99% everywhere? Or are they just dumber'n a sack of hammers? It's not just a class war going on. Shipping and finance merchants are also perverting our entire government to wage guild-war against all manufacturers AND labor. And they are winning, so far. Free trade just means that mega-merchants are in control of tax and trade policy, and now fiscal policy as well.

What are we? Citizen owners of our own democracy, or just mega-merchant-fodder? Better answer that quick, or else the mega-merchants will run off with the royal-we response, supposedly on our behalf. (Did you notice that there's a 99% discount sale on democracy going on? Beneath our feet?)

This makes no sense, and is just another, unbalanced descent into yet another version of Central Planning by a cabal too small to wield the full-group intelligence we need just in order to survive. It's the parasites "winning" by killing their host. Once again, like in 1933, we need to save these idiots from themselves, as part of saving ourselves.

The merchant lobby logic is also inconsistent. MICC & other Corporate Welfare operates by fiat currency logic, while we're told that gold-std logic applies to the serfs. 

Huh? When do double-standards EVER scale efficiently? When wielded by supposedly genius-level Central Planners? In their dreams, and in our nightmares, that's when.

And we're also instructed to not ask questions? WTF is going on?

Why aren't more citizens asking WTF is going on?

ps: Forget 666. We're dealing with 444 - Foreign Fiat For. It's officially dumber than Cain's "999" formula, and more evil to boot.

What do YOU need to be saved from?

What happened to "Venimus, Vidimus, Perfecimus Eventus Accommodatos?"

Research May Teach Rodents to Detect Explosives

Hmmm. What kind of research do you suppose would teach people to go, see & make a more perfect union?

The kind NOT supported by our mil/industrial complex?  Nor by our banksters lobby?

Do we have to save THEM from themselves too?

If so, do we need a rescue plan for every one of the ~19,000 NAICS industry codes? :(

What, exactly, do YOU need to be saved from? Do we need a real time database to track it all and schedule interventions?  WikiInterventia?

Or have we run out of money for that too?