Amendment XXVIII

[Iolchan]

Amendment XXVIII

& Apologia

Latest Draft:

AMENDMENT XXVIII

Money and Credit – Congress Asserts Power To Coin Money, and Emit Bills of Credit

[SECTION 1.] The Congress hereby asserts the power, granted in this Constitution, to coin money, and to regulate the value thereof. - And further, to emit non-interest-bearing bills of credit directly through the Treasury Department on the Credit, and in the Name of the People.

[SECTION 2.] The U.S. Congress hereby authorizes the U.S. Treasury to issue a sufficient quantity of Fiat “dollars” to purchase back the capital stock of the Federal Reserve Bank from the private owners, by eminent domain.

[SECTION 3.] The Federal Reserve Bank shall henceforth cease to exist as a private and public institution. All of the books, documents and records of the Federal Reserve Bank, and of the U.S. Treasury Department shall be transferred to the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank shall be made Subject to the most minute Congressional and e-Public Examination. A New Institution, the “Common-Wealth Central Bank” of the United States of America, shall henceforth function as a Sub-Treasury Central Bank of issue.

[SECTION 4.] The U.S. Congress does also hereby authorize the U.S. Treasury to recall, by eminent domain, all outstanding U.S. Treasury Securities, constituting the “National Debt,” and to Convert them by Fiat, into a new species of dollar-denominated, and non-interest-bearing credit instrument, to be termed "National Credit Receipts." All U.S Securities owned by individual persons shall be redeemed, at face value, in credit, on the books of the Common-Wealth Central Bank. However; all outstanding U.S. Treasury Securities originally purchased from the Federal Open Market Committee by Banking Corporations at Treasury bond-auctions, shall be discounted to seven percent of their “value” and be accounted as balances on the Books, and by the Credit, of the Common-Wealth Central Bank of the United States of America.

[SECTION 5.] The U.S. Treasury, and the Common-Wealth Central Bank of the United States of America [as the fountainhead of Credit Creation in the nation] shall henceforth Issue as Money only non-interest-bearing, fiat Treasury Notes, and Mint Coins of pure Specie, stamped with their weight and fineness. The books, accounts and records of the Treasury shall continually be open to public scrutiny. The Congress, in order to promote the General Welfare, shall find creative – and equitable - ways to invest and spread the new National Wealth. There shall be no further issues of Treasury Securities, or Bonds.

[SECTION 6.] Each of the State Treasury departments, of each of the fifty States, are also hereby empowered, by the same creative principle [formerly given by charter to banks] to create Credit within their own jurisdictions, in the form of checks, signed by the State comptrollers, in accordance with appropriations made by the State legislatures, for the purpose of maintaining State institutions, infrastructure, and salaries.

[SECTION 7.] In accordance with the provisions of this Article, all banks and financial institutions in America shall receive new charters from the Treasury. The U.S. Treasury and the Sub-Treasury Common-Wealth Central Bank {and the State Treasuries} shall henceforth have the unique and sole power within the nation to create Credit – a function formerly granted by the government [ and thus erroneously delegated ] only to Banks. Henceforth private banks may charge interest, to service accounts.

[SECTION 8.] In Sum, this Article defines, and enhances the powers granted to Congress and the Treasury, under Article I, Section 8, Clause 5, of this Constitution. Furthermore, it amends and modifies Article I, Section 10, Clause 1, to empower State Treasuries to create [a limited amount of] non-inflationary Credit, in the form of check-book money in order to meet the pressing needs of the States.

Apologia

Why We Need Amendment XVIII, Now


Amendment XVIII does several things that are timely:

Amendment XXVIII Re-Asserts the Constitutional principle that Congress – the Representatives of We, the People - should control, and be the ultimate Arbiter over the Creation of Money and Credit.

Amendment XXVIII Nationalizes the private ownership of the Federal Reserve Bank, and subsumes the creative functions of that institution into the Treasury Department, creating a Sub-Treasury “Common-Wealth Central Bank” - to be established and dedicated to the Interest of the People – not Wall Street.

Amendment XXVIII Authorizes Congress to recall the National Debt, and transforms, by Congressional Fiat, the fraudulent “National Debt,” held by prime banks in the form of U.S. Treasury Securities, into an actual National Blessing in the form of billions of Dollars of “Common-Wealth” to be deposited in the New “Common-Wealth, Central Bank” by recalling, and transforming the U.S. Treasury Bonds, by Fiat, into a new, non-interest-bearing, dollar-denominated credit instrument: the “National Credit-Receipt.”

Amendment XXVIII cleans out the Augean Stables of the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank, and opens the Books, Documents, and Records of those Institutions to the minutest Public Scrutiny. Amendment XXVIII also asserts “…there shall be no further issues of Treasury Securities, or Bonds.”

Amendment XXVIII opens, once again, the Treasury Mints to the free coinage of silver and gold. The new Commodity Money coins shall be stamped with their weight and fineness, not denominated in terms of “Dollars.”

Borrowing a page from the Articles of Confederation, Amendment XXVIII grants, once again, to the State Governments the power to create Credit within their own jurisdictions. This will be of great help to the infrastructure and to Health, Education, and Welfare within the fifty states. And it will serve the Interest of the People; though it displease the banking elites and their minions.

Since State governments are empowered to grant charters to State Banks, which enable these Banks to create Credit, States also should be empowered to Create, with the stroke of a pen, sufficient Credit within their own jurisdictions to assist Human needs.

If Amendment XXVIII intended only to restore a lawful system of Constitutional money - with Fiat Treasury Bills replacing the interest-bearing debts known as "Federal Reserve Notes," then indeed, no Amendment would be necessary. The Constitution already provides Congress with the power to issue such notes as interest-free money. Also, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Julliard v. Greenman (110 U.S. 421, 448) in 1884 ruled that: “Congress is authorized to establish a national currency, either in coins or in paper, and to make that currency lawful money for all purposes, as regards the national government or private individuals.” {A broad interpretation of Article I, Section 8, clause 5, of the Constitution.}

An elegant solution, Amendment XVIII, also Nationalizes the National Debt; and transforms the Treasury Department into a Treasury of Common-wealth; and fills the coffers of this new institution with billions and billions of "dollars" of Credit & establishes a new specie of credit-instrument, a dollar-denominated "National Credit Receipt" to be just as serviceable as “Dollars” on the international market.

Amendment XVIII makes a distinction between the U.S. Savings Bonds that were purchased by Ma and Pa bond investors and those U.S. Treasury Securities that were purchased by the Prime Banks at Bond Auctions held under the auspices of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve’s Window on Wall Street. Commercial Banks have always utilized the “multiplier” of the fractional reserve system to purchase U.S. Treasury Securities at cents on the dollar.

In recognition of this Fact - that such transactions are, and have always been, from the beginning, Fraudulent - AMENDMENT XVIII renders the outstanding “Debt” that is “owed” to the Prime Banks of this – and every other Nation - at a mere 7% [Seven per cent] of the face value of such Fraudulent, Banker-secured paper “Debt.”

This reduction of the Debt to a Sum that is payable in Credit, on the Books of the new Sub- Treasury Central Bank-of-Issue, the “Common-Wealth Central Bank” is, in Reality, exceedingly fair and Just, in recognition of the Fraud that has been committed by the Community of International bankers, in foisting the former system upon the unsuspecting Public.

Thus, AMENDMENT XVIII allows a large amount of Credit to be created on the books of the new Common-Wealth Central Bank - as compensation for that portion of the investment of the Banks in the National Debt, that might actually be deemed ‘legitimate.” This gives the Prime Banks some Credit - but no Stock - in the new Institution.

The aggregate effect of these Reforms is to establish an Institution that benefits All Americans - and not just the small elite who were fortunate to inherit the right stock in certain Wall Street Money Market Banks.

Amendment XXVIII dissolves the Federal Reserve Bank into the United States Treasury Department, and subsumes the creative, credit-creation function of the Federal Reserve into the new Sub-Treasury "Common-Wealth Central Bank." Henceforth, the Treasury shall not be compelled to issue interest-bearing Treasury Securities to "back" all of the paper "dollars" that the Federal Reserve currently issues. Instead, the Treasury shall issue non-interest-bearing Treasury notes, as Abraham Lincoln and John Fitzgerald Kennedy were able, for a short time, to do.

Significantly, Amendment XXVIII also grants the fifty States the power to create credit within their own sovereign jurisdictions, to meet their crushing deficit burdens, instead of having to float endless bond issues and borrow more "money" at interest from banks and investors of the bond-holding class. The Articles of Confederation, drafted by the revolutionary Continental Congress of 1777, allowed the States this power - and it should be restored to the several States, in order for there to be a healthy society in North America.

Thus, Clause 9 reads: "Furthermore, it amends and modifies Article I, Section 10, clause 1, to empower State Treasuries to create [a limited amount of] non-inflationary Credit, in the form of check-book money in order to meet the pressing needs of the States."

Sincerely,

Mark Walter Evans,
Hood Mountain,
California

Attached Files

• Adams.-.The.Legalized.Crime.of.Banking.and.a.Constitutional.Remedy.1958-1.pdf (454.0 KB )
• PatmanPrimerOnMoney.pdf (68.5 KB )
• Banking-and-Currency-and-the-Money-Trust-by-Minesota-Congressman-Charles-a-Lindbergh-Sr.pdf (579.0 KB )

[ubaru]

That you can write an Amendment in that verbiage is brilliant Mark. The ideas here are potent.

Maybe it's just too late at night for me to wrap my head around SECTION 4., but could you please explain it more?

[SECTION 4.] The U.S. Congress does also hereby authorize the U.S. Treasury to recall, by eminent domain, all outstanding U.S. Treasury Securities, constituting the “National Debt,” and to Convert them by Fiat, into a new species of dollar-denominated, and non-interest-bearing credit instrument, to be termed "National Credit Receipts." All U.S Securities owned by individual persons shall be redeemed, at face value, in credit, on the books of the Common-Wealth Central Bank. However; all outstanding U.S. Treasury Securities originally purchased from the Federal Open Market Committee by Banking Corporations at Treasury bond-auctions, shall be discounted to seven percent of their “value” and be accounted as balances on the Books, and by the Credit, of the Common-Wealth Central Bank of the United States of America.

Liz

[Iolchan]

Amendment XXVIII,
Section Four,
Explained:

[SECTION 4.] The U.S. Congress does also hereby authorize the U.S. Treasury to recall, by eminent domain, all outstanding U.S. Treasury Securities, constituting the “National Debt,” and to Convert them by Fiat, into a new species of dollar-denominated, and non-interest-bearing credit instrument, to be termed "National Credit Receipts." All U.S Securities owned by individual persons shall be redeemed, at face value, in credit, on the books of the Common-Wealth Central Bank. However; all outstanding U.S. Treasury Securities originally purchased from the Federal Open Market Committee by Banking Corporations at Treasury bond-auctions, shall be discounted to seven percent of their “value” and be accounted as balances on the Books, and by the Credit, of the Common-Wealth Central Bank of the United States of America.

In the first place, you must understand that the so-called "National Debt" is denominated
in interest-bearing U.S. Treasury Securities; i.e., 'Bonds.' As I wrote, in the Apologia,

iolchan wrote:

Amendment XXVIII Re-Asserts the Constitutional principle that Congress – the Representatives of We, the People - should control, and be the ultimate Arbiter over the Creation of Money and Credit.

Amendment XXVIII Nationalizes the private ownership of the Federal Reserve Bank, and subsumes the creative functions of that institution into the Treasury Department, creating a Sub-Treasury “Common-Wealth Central Bank” - to be established and dedicated to the Interest of the People – not Wall Street.

Amendment XXVIII Authorizes Congress to recall the National Debt, and transforms, by Congressional Fiat, the fraudulent “National Debt,” held by prime banks in the form of U.S. Treasury Securities, into an actual National Blessing in the form of billions and billions of Dollars of “Common-Wealth” to be deposited in the New “Common-Wealth, Central Bank” by recalling, and transforming the U.S. Treasury Bonds, by Fiat, into a new, non-interest-bearing, dollar-denominated credit instrument: the “National Credit-Receipt.”

Amendment XXVIII cleans out the Augean Stables of the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank, and opens the Books, Documents, and Records of those Institutions to the minutest Public Scrutiny. Amendment XXVIII also asserts “…there shall be no further issues of Treasury Securities, or Bonds.”

The point is, as Thomas Edison said, "If“ our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can
issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good."

You see, it can be done by Fiat - by a Congressional Fiat, no less.
This bonded indebtedness of the U.S. Federal Government, may be
recalled and then transformed, by Fiat - in the name of the People;
All of the People; into a new instrument - a National Credit Receipt,
as good as dollars on the market; in fact, just another form of "Dollar."
Understand?

That, indeed, would be a Divine Fiat, and a proper expression
of the Divinity that is inherent within Humanity...
For it was GOD who said > in Hebrew, not Latin < : "Fiat Lux"
- or -
" Let there be Light."
...and there was Light.

iolchan wrote:

An elegant solution, Amendment XVIII, ...Nationalizes the National Debt; and transforms the Treasury Department into a Treasury of Common-wealth; and fills the coffers of this new institution with billions and billions of "dollars" of Credit & establishes a new specie of credit-instrument; a dollar-denominated "National Credit Receipt" to be just as serviceable as “Dollars” on the international market.

Amendment XVIII makes a distinction between the U.S. Savings Bonds that were purchased by Ma and Pa bond investors and those U.S. Treasury Securities that were purchased by the Prime Banks at Bond Auctions held under the auspices of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve’s Window on Wall Street. Commercial Banks have always utilized the “multiplier” of the fractional reserve system to purchase U.S. Treasury Securities at cents on the dollar.

In recognition of this Fact - that such transactions are, and have always been, from the beginning, Fraudulent - AMENDMENT XVIII renders the outstanding “Debt” that is “owed” to the Prime Banks of this – and every other Nation - at a mere 7% [Seven per cent] of the face value of such Fraudulent, Banker-secured paper “Debt.”

This reduction of the Debt to a Sum that is payable in Credit, on the Books of the new Sub- Treasury Central Bank-of-Issue, the “Common-Wealth Central Bank” is, in Reality, exceedingly fair and Just, in recognition of the Fraud that has been committed by the Community of International bankers, in foisting the former system upon the unsuspecting Public.

Paying off that portion of the U.S.Government National Debt that is owed to the International Commercial Banks and their stockholders, in "Cash" at seven cents on the dollar, is exceeding fair and just, because, as I wrote, in The Problem with the Federal Reserve :

:

Figure 3 is a picture of the Fed's relationship with the Federal Open Market Committee (the FOMC), the Fed's window upon Wall Street, the creation of which was part of the marvelous "Reform" package of that Father Christmas and friend of the people, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The FOMC, in order to "regulate" the economy, buys and sells on the open market corporate and government bonds and securities. This is so it can create inflation when that is needed or deflation, should that be necessary. It creates "inflation" by buying corporate securities from both domestic and foreign corporations. It pays for the securities by issuing "new money," that is, money it has created out of thin air, as is its privilege.

The Fed operates on the principle that corporations need the money and that it eventually will find its way into the economy. Thus we find the New Deal was practicing "trickle-down" economics long before Reagan. In buying government bonds the commercial banks use the "Fractional Reserve" currency they are allowed to create. The corporations, which are favored with Federal Open Market Committee largesse, as a rule, have inter-locking directorates with the commercial banks, where they park their money.

These banks can then multiply their deposits by the factor determined by the current reserve ratio and purchase government bonds, speculate, or lend to customers. The Fed, meanwhile, when economic conditions dictate, pontificates solemnly that there is too much inflation and that they must put the brakes on the economy and institute a little deflation. The Fed, so the story goes, causes "deflation" by selling bonds and securities on the open market. The theory has it that the FOMC sells bonds, to take money out of the economy because "too much money" in the economy has caused "inflation," which in turn has caused prices to rise, and that's bad. That's the cover story.

When prices rise, it's generally not because of scarcity of commodities - or because the volume of money has made prices "dear." - It's usually because the cartels have simply jacked the prices up a notch. [This is no longer the case with regards to oil.]

Profit. The real reason the Fed sells bonds through the FOMC is because the business of the Fed is transfer wealth and energy (money rendered back in taxes is the tangible expression of labor and energy) from the people to the bond-holding class.

The term "bond-holding class" does not refer to the Ma & Pa owners of "U.S. Savings Bonds," but to the elite families who own the "preferred" stock in the Prime Banks, and utilize the ability of these banks to create "Fractional Reserve" dollars out of thin air. These Families receive Quarterly dividends from this bank-stock. The Fed sells U.S. government securities (the notes that were issued against the money in square 1) in order to raise money for the poor government, which is continually running into deficit, spending beyond its allocated budget.

These securities, as long as they remained in the vaults of the Fed, were the property of the people. But the Fed is continually moving these bonds, through bond auctions at the FOMC, into the "public," (that is, the banking) sector. You will remember that the prime banks are able to multiply their deposits to create new money. These prime banks and foreign, and domestic brokerage houses, queue up to buy government bonds when they are offered for sale.

This is merely one more way our hungry government obtains money. The "new" bank-created money is transferred from the "reserve accounts" of the prime banks at the Fed and is credited to the Government. The prime banks, however, have acquired interest-bearing bonds.

You see, the bond-holding class, unlike the Ma and Pa owners of U.S. Savings bonds, utilize banks and Bankers as their front-men. Thus, they have acquired, by means of the "fractional reserve" system, the bulk of the National Debt, at cents on the dollar. Therefore, they should only be paid cents on the dollar in return. They have already looted the economy, and sucked like leaches upon the body politic long enough.

I call this the "7 % Solution" =OR= "THE SEVEN PER CENT SOLUTION" Period. Can I find a Production Company? My thinking on these points is directly influenced by the populist economic ideology of the old Farmer-Labor Party, and is informed by the book, "Banking, Currency, and the Money Trust," by the elder Lindbergh, who, after being excommunicated from the Republican Party in 1917, became a co-founder, and the chief economic theoretician of the Farmer-Labor Party, of Minnesota.

The Farmer-Labor Platform of 1934 declared :

- Nationalization Of Banking With Government
Monopoly of Money And Credit operated without profit.

The large chain banks have worked a hardship on the small business man. Government control of money and credit will assure the average business man fair treatment. At the present time, he is being discriminated against and is at the mercy of greedy and selfish interests...

All money should be directly issued by the government and made full tender in payment of all debts... and should be put in circulation by the payment of all government bonds due, or soon to become due, and in payment for all public works construction there shall be no further issue of interest bearing bonds.

The issue of money is a governmental function and all money should be issued directly by the government and made a legal tender in payment of all debts.

The issuance of interest-bearing bonds is in essence the issuance of money, since it represents a government guarantee to pay. In effect, it means the people are paying interest on their own money.

Sincerely,

Mark Walter Evans

[ubaru]

Thanks Mark, for expounding on Section 4.

How does Amendment 28 grant the states the power to write checks against no funds?

And how could this be a good thing?

Also, what is Apologia?

Liz

[Iolchan]

Amendment XXVIII,
Sections Six, Seven, & Eight,
Explained:

[SECTION 6.] Each of the State Treasury departments, of each of the fifty States, are also hereby empowered, by the same creative principle [formerly given by charter to banks] to create Credit within their own jurisdictions, in the form of checks, signed by the State comptrollers, in accordance with appropriations made by the State legislatures, for the purpose of maintaining State institutions, infrastructure, and salaries.

[SECTION 7.] In accordance with the provisions of this Article, all banks and financial institutions in America shall receive new charters from the Treasury. The U.S. Treasury and the Sub-Treasury Common-Wealth Central Bank {and the State Treasuries} shall henceforth have the unique and sole power within the nation to create Credit – a function formerly granted by the government [and thus erroneously delegated] only to Banks. Henceforth private banks may charge interest, to service accounts.

[SECTION 8.] In Sum, this Article defines, and enhances the powers granted to Congress and the Treasury, under Article I, Section 8, Clause 5, of this Constitution. Furthermore, it amends and modifies Article I, Section 10, Clause 1, to empower State Treasuries to create [a limited amount of] non-inflationary Credit, in the form of check-book money in order to meet the pressing needs of the States.


In the Apologia [Latin] which means, simply, a reasoned argument or defense for one's position, or case, I wrote:

"Borrowing a page from the Articles of Confederation, Amendment XXVIII grants, once again, to the State Governments the power to create Credit within their own Jurisdictions. This will be of great help to the infrastructure and to Health, Education, and Welfare within the fifty states. And it will serve the Interest of the People; though it displease the banking elites and their minions.

Since State governments are empowered to grant charters to State Banks, which enable these Banks to create Credit, States also should be empowered to Create, with the stroke of a pen, sufficient Credit within their own Jurisdictions to assist Human needs."

And, again...

"Significantly, Amendment XXVIII also grants the fifty States the power to create credit within their own sovereign jurisdictions, to meet their crushing deficit burdens, instead of having to float endless bond issues and borrow more "money" at interest from banks and investors of the bond-holding class. The Articles of Confederation, drafted by the revolutionary Continental Congress of 1777, allowed the States this power - and it should be restored to the several States, in order for there to be a healthy society in North America.

Thus, Clause 9 reads: "Furthermore, it amends and modifies Article I, Section 10, clause 1, to empower State Treasuries to create [a limited amount of] non-inflationary Credit, in the form of check-book money in order to meet the pressing needs of the States."

As I wrote, in Waking up Homeless, an article in the North Coast Xpress, in December of 1994,

The Root Of The Dilemma

“In part the confusion over this issue began back in 1787 when the founding fathers met in Philadelphia to draft the Constitution. They decided, quite deliberately, to abridge the Articles of Confederation, (written in 1777) and deny to both the Federal Government and to the various States the power to emit "bills of credit" (paper currency); powers which were formerly vested in both the State and Federal governments under the Articles of Confederation. This was perhaps the most important single deed of the Convention.

“Both John Fiske in The Critical Period in American History, and Charles Beard in An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, address this issue - from different sides of the coin, so to speak. The Continental Congress of 1777 had been a revolutionary body. In a certain sense, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was a counter-revolution.

“Thomas Jefferson was not present at the Constitutional Convention because he was the Ambassador to France at the time. Jefferson held a fundamentally different conception of the ideal Commonwealth and the Treasury thereof than his noted adversary Hamilton, whose policies prevailed both at the Convention and in the administration under Washington. In 1791, the year that also witnessed the birth of the bond-market on Wall Street, Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury, created the first privately owned Central Bank, the Bank of the United States.

“Jefferson wrote late in life that his deepest regret about the Constitution was that Article I, Section 8, Clause 5, did not specifically empower the Federal Government to "emit bills of credit" - that is, to print paper currency as money. Thomas Jefferson wrote:

"The issuing power of money should be taken from the banks and restored to Congress and the people to whom it belongs. I sincerely believe the banking institutions are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies."

There Is A Solution

“Actually, the solution to the annual budget crisis is so simple that any schoolchild could think of it. Indeed, many have. The solution is for both the State and the Federal governments to be empowered to issue currency and to write checks against no funds (cash on hand, or gold in the vault) as they were empowered to do under the Articles of Confederation and as the Federal Reserve banks are now empowered to do.

“There is no law that states that the government must issue interest-bearing bonds to sell to banks in order to borrow "credit-money" created by private banks. According to the Supreme Court decision of March 1884 (unanimous opinion delivered by Justice Gray), the Federal Government can issue, and re-issue debt-free currency.

“It was the Federal Government, in the first place, that granted charters to the commercial banks, allowing them to create Credit-Money by multiplying their deposits. If banks are empowered by the government to create money, then the power to create money originates in the collective power of the People.

“The problem is that the people as a whole are collectively unconscious of their power as a mass because they have been kept ignorant. The contradiction is that this Congress, in the current Empire phase of American development, has even less will than the Congress of 1791 to serve the real interests of the people or to buck the bankers and capitalists who seem to hold the real reins of power.

“It is the energy and labor of the People, taxed by the State that has fed the leisure class who for generations has lived off the interest generated by the bonds, which "back" the National {and State} Debt. Most people would agree, if they understood the issue, that it is not fair for a class of people who merely inherited the right stock in the right banks, to collect this enormous expanding annual dividend from the midst of the Federal budget. It is this Class, not the so-called "Welfare-cheaters" on the bottom of the social pile, who constitute the greatest specie of leech upon the body politic. And until more Americans wake up to this realization, more Americans will continue to wake up homeless.” [End Quote]

I would argue here and Now, that the fifty States only be empowered to write checks - which are, essentially, non-inflationary money – & not to emit endless reams of non- interest-bearing fiat notes. That should be the function of the United States Treasury.

SECTION 6. Each of the State Treasury departments, of each of the fifty States, are also hereby empowered, by the same creative principle [formerly given by charter to banks] to create Credit within their own jurisdictions, in the form of checks, signed by the State comptrollers, in accordance with appropriations made by the State legislatures, for the purpose of maintaining State institutions, infrastructure, and salaries.

***

Here are the passages concerning Money, in the Articles of Confederation :


Article II

Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.



Article IX

Section 4. The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective States — fixing the standards of weights and measures throughout the United States —regulating the trade and managing all affairs with the Indians, not members of any of the States, provided that the legislative right of any State within its own limits be not infringed or violated…


Section 5. The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority to appoint a committee, to sit in the recess of Congress, to be denominated 'A Committee of the States', and to consist of one delegate from each State; and to appoint such other committees and civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States under their direction — to appoint one of their members to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years; to ascertain the necessary sums of money to be raised for the service of the United States, and to appropriate and apply the same for defraying the public expenses — to borrow money, or emit bills on the credit of the United States, transmitting every half-year to the respective States an account of the sums of money so borrowed or emitted…


Section 6. The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a war, nor grant letters of marque or reprisal in time of peace, nor enter into any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value thereof, nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary for the defense and welfare of the United States, or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war, to be built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor appoint a commander in chief of the army or navy, unless nine States assent to the same: nor shall a question on any other point, except for adjourning from day to day be determined, unless by the votes of the majority of the United States in Congress assembled.


ARTICLE XII


All bills of credit emitted, monies borrowed, and debts contracted by, or under the authority of Congress, before the assembling of the United States, in pursuance of the present confederation, shall be deemed and considered as a charge against the United States, for payment and satisfaction whereof the said United States, and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged.”

***

So ran the Articles of Confederation, with regards to Money - the Social Compact under which the several states were allowed to "emit bills of credit" - the Social Compact that preceded the Constitution.

Here are the passages relating to Money in the United States Constitution:

ARTICLE I


Section 8. - Powers of Congress

1. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

3. To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

4. To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

5. To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

6. To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

12. To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;


Section 9. - Limits on Congress


7. No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

Section 10. – Powers prohibited of States


1. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

***

Thus, Section 8, of Amendment XXVIII, Reads :

"[SECTION 8.] In Sum, this Article defines, and enhances the powers granted to Congress and the Treasury, under Article I, Section 8, Clause 5, of this Constitution. Furthermore, it amends and modifies Article I, Section 10, Clause 1, to empower State Treasuries to create [a limited amount of] non-inflationary Credit, in the form of check-book money in order to meet the pressing needs of the States. "

*


Sincerely,
and in Hope,

Mark Walter Evans

[ubaru]

Wow Mark,

This is an incredible work and research you have made.

Will you please help me understand a few things? Please forgive me if you have already stated the answers.

There Is A Solution

“Actually, the solution to the annual budget crisis is so simple that any schoolchild could think of it. Indeed, many have. The solution is for both the State and the Federal governments to be empowered to issue currency and to write checks against no funds (cash on hand, or gold in the vault) as they were empowered to do under the Articles of Confederation and as the Federal Reserve banks are now empowered to do.

I would argue here and Now, that the fifty States only be empowered to write checks - which are, substantially, money – & not to emit endless reams of fiat notes.

I don't think the way the Federal Reserve banks are creating money out of thin air is a valid form of currency. Are you saying the People should be able to do the same as the Federal Reserve?

Write checks against what? And how is it to be limited?

Are you saying no funds = no cash or gold in the vault?

Where is the actual value in this money? Is it all tied to goods, services, property, gold, silver, and the like?

“Both John Fiske in The Critical Period in American History, and Charles Beard in An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, address this issue - from different sides of the coin, so to speak. The Continental Congress of 1777 had been a revolutionary body. In a certain sense, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was a counter-revolution.

Will you please describe the characteristics of the two revolutions?

I'm still trying to understand the essence of how the ruling elite create money, and the essence of how it could ideally be done. Could you please succinctly sum up your understanding of it?

This is very interesting,
Liz

[Iolchan]

The Problem With the Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve Bank is the holding-company and chief clearing-house for the North American ruling class. In the process of the development of Finance Capitalism in the twentieth century, it was an integral stage that led, in 1930, to the creation of the Bank for International Settlements, (the B.I.S.,) in Basel, Switzerland, and to the establishment of the World Bank, (I.B.R.D.) and its twin, the I.M.F., in 1946. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is essential to the apparatus of Anglo-American global imperialism. And, because it is inherently un-Constitutional - contrary to the U.S. Constitution - it is the Achilles heel of the whole System of Global Finance...

In 1987, the liberal journalist William Greider, wrote a well written, informative, and engaging 800-page best seller, Secrets of the Temple, that served, as the Tower Commission Report of the same year, as a kind of damage control and final word on the subject. Greider's book, although highly informative, did not take the lid off the Federal Reserve can of worms. Very few people have the patience to wade through an 800-page book. And if they did, in this case, they would not find Comprehension at the end of the tunnel. After several years of study, I wrote (in 1993) this brief article employing flow-charts, to attempt to explain the arcane mysteries of the Money Lords.

Figure l, is a picture of the Fed's relationship with the Treasury Department. Instead of being a "sub-treasury" central bank of issue, it is actually above the Treasury in that it has been given the ultimate power and authority to "create" credit and issues of paper money out of thin air. "Federal Reserve Bank credit does not consist of funds that the Reserve authorities get somewhere to lend, but constitute funds that they are empowered to CREATE." (reference, Federal Reserve System, Its Purposes and Functions, U.S. Government Publications, 1939 ed., p.85)

When the Federal Government needs money, it must turn to the Federal Reserve Bank, both for income-tax moneys, which are funneled from the IRS through the Fed to the Treasury, and also for the creation of fresh debt, the annual deficit.

To get "money," the Treasury must print fresh U.S. Government Securities, on the presses of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. These are the same presses, the operating costs of which are paid by taxpayers, that the Fed utilizes to print fresh issues of Federal Reserve Notes. If the Treasury wants cash, the Fed will, in this manner, supply cash. The Fed pays the Treasury for the printing (paper and ink only), which is running about 3 cents a bill, whether it is a one-dollar bill or a thousand-dollar bill.

The Treasury must give the Fed a Million dollars in bonds or interest-bearing securities for every million dollars of cash or credit the Fed supplies the Treasury. This is the first unequal exchange. These U.S. Government Securities are interest-bearing Liabilities of the tax-paying American public. As long as these securities remain in the vaults of the Fed, however, they are, in theory, the property of the People. Taxpayers pay the interest that these bonds generate and this revenue pays for the work-a-day expenses of the Federal Reserve Banks. The surplus interest, in excess of the cost of running the Fed, is channeled back into the U.S. Treasury.

Figure 2, is a picture of the relationship of the Fed to its member banks, and the masses. The masses are on the bottom, the banks are in the middle, and the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank is on top. Behind the Federal Reserve, is the bond-holding class.

The Federal Reserve System is the instrument and tool of the private banking industry. Banks are allowed, in effect, to create Fiat Money on the credit (faith) of the people and to also collect interest on this money from the government, and people of the United States. The euphemism applying to this privilege is "Fractional Reserve." Banks are then enabled to lend this money at profit-making interest rates to their customers.

Not only do the banks create money out of thin air (e.g., when the reserve ratio is 8 to 1, $8 can be leant out for every $1 dollar "on deposit"), but also since the system requires the selling of government bonds to back up "the Fractional Reserve" funds created, the U.S. Treasury is paying interest on the funds it allows the banks to create. This is a money-making machine. Meanwhile, out on the street, there is always a dearth of money, actually about only $1,000 per person (though most people rarely see that much) of actual cash (paper money and token coins) in the system. This translates into only $250 billion for 250 million norte americanos.[1993] This artificially created scarcity of cash money generates the necessity for the enormous undertow of bank credit and public debt.

Currently, [again, 1993] the total "debt" has risen to more than 14 trillion dollars. The ratio of the amount of cash money in the system to "credit" and debt dollars is less than 1 to 50. Less than 2% of the "money" in the system is in "cash." When people need money, they must put up collateral at the bank. This is real estate or other property or bonds, notes, or some other kind of financial instrument. There is no other way for the public to obtain money from the system (except in the case of government loans and the G.I. Bill), than by putting up collateral to borrow it from the banks.

In periods of credit expansion, people tend to feel optimistic or "bullish" about America and borrow heavily. When the credit is contracted (as it was in the Spring of 1929), loans are called in and people without enough cash in the system to pay all the loans (remember, there is only about $1,000 per capita) lose their collateral. The long-term effect of this has transformed the masses of the Norte Americanos into a nation of renters (serfs). The corollary to this reality is that the landlord-bankers, and their holding companies, have acquired liens on the titles to most of the land and the resources, not only of North America, but of much of the Third World as well. This has been accomplished by means of that marvelous instrument of "credit," the Norte Americano carnivorous debt-dollar, which, like Pac-Man, gobbles up everything in its path.

Figure 3 is a picture of the Fed's relationship with the Federal Open Market Committee (the FOMC), the Fed's "window" upon Wall Street, the creation of which was part of the marvelous "Reform" package of that Father Christmas and friend of the people, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The FOMC, in order to "regulate" the economy, buys and sells on the open market corporate and government bonds and securities. This is so it can create inflation when that is needed or deflation, should that be necessary. It creates "inflation" by buying corporate securities from both domestic and foreign corporations. It pays for the securities by issuing "new money," that is, money it has created out of thin air, as is its privilege.

The Fed operates on the principle that corporations need the money and that it eventually will find its way into the economy. Thus we find the New Deal was practicing "trickle- down" economics long before Reagan. In buying government bonds the commercial banks use the "Fractional Reserve" currency they are allowed to create. The corporations, which are favored with Federal Open Market Committee largesse, as a rule, have inter-locking directorates with the commercial banks, where they park their money.

These banks can then multiply their deposits by the factor determined by the current reserve ratio and purchase government bonds, speculate, or lend to customers. The Fed, meanwhile, when economic conditions dictate, pontificates solemnly that there is too much inflation and that they must put the brakes on the economy and institute a little deflation. The Fed, so the story goes, causes "deflation" by selling bonds and securities on the open market. The theory has it that the FOMC sells bonds, to take money out of the economy because "too much money" in the economy has caused "inflation," which in turn has caused prices to rise, and that's bad. That's the cover story.

When prices rise, it's generally not because of scarcity of commodities - or because the volume of money has made prices "dear." - It's usually because the cartels have simply jacked the prices up a notch. [This is no longer the case with regards to oil.]

Profit. The real reason the Fed sells bonds through the FOMC is because the business of the Fed is transfer wealth and energy (money rendered back in taxes, is the tangible expression of labor and energy) from the people to the bond-holding class.

The term "bond-holding class" does not refer to the Ma & Pa owners of "U.S. Savings Bonds," but to the elite families who own the "preferred" stock in the Prime Banks, and utilize the ability of these banks to create "Fractional Reserve" dollars out of thin air. These Families receive Quarterly dividends from this bank-stock. The Fed sells U.S. government securities (the notes that were issued against the money in square 1) in order to raise money for the poor government, which is continually running into deficit, spending beyond its allocated budget.

Now, These U.S. Treasury Securities, as long as they remained in the vaults of the Fed, were the property of the People. But the Fed is continually moving these bonds, through bond auctions at the FOMC, into the "public," (that is, the banking) sector. You will remember that the prime banks are able to multiply their deposits to create new money. These prime banks and foreign, and domestic brokerage houses, queue up to buy government bonds when they are offered for sale.

This is merely one more way our hungry government obtains money. The "new" bank- created money is transferred from the "reserve accounts" of the Prime Banks, at the Fed, and is credited to the Government. The Prime Banks, however, have acquired interest-bearing bonds.

Figure 4, is a picture of how "America's 60 Families" and the foreign stockholders of the "Class A" stock of the international prime banks collect interest off the National Debt.

The Commons, the People must queue up and pay tithes to the government for the privilege of living in America and being able (forced) to use Federal Reserve Notes and for the folly of being poor and not owning the preferred stock in the right banks, so they would be able to afford to live off of borrowed money (which is a liability and hence not taxable), the way the rich do.

The fact that debt payment is the Number One priority of the budget shows graphically that this system has been engineered to make the many work for the few. Payment to the prime banks holding the bonds against the National Debt is the first order of priority once the Fed receives the checks and drafts from tax-payers.

The IRS is really nothing more than the collection agency for the Fed. The prime banks, then, issue a semi-annual dividend to the holders of their "preferred stock" from that part of their portfolio that is holding tax-exempt government bonds. Only after the interest on the "debt" has been paid does the Fed channel tax moneys to the General Fund of the U.S. Treasury.

This whole system is upside-down. The Treasury should be above the Central Bank, and the Treasury should be the original source of the creation of all new money and credit. The Central Bank should be subservient to and not the master of the People. The Treasury could then become what it was intended to be, the storehouse of the common (or collective) wealth of the nation. This is the idea of the Co-operative Common-wealth. This is what is meant to "nationalize credit."

In reality, Fiat Money need not be backed by bonds and is, in the final analysis, already backed by the credit-worthiness and "faith" of the American people collectively, whether or not the procedure of creating federal debt is engaged in. Our Federal debt and deficit is largely the result of the subsidization of private banking interests by the unwitting American people, through their elected representatives, who have sold out to the interests of the private banking industry.


Sources:


ADAMS, Silas Walter, The Legalized Crime of Banking and a Constitutional Remedy, Boston, Meador, 1958.

See, also his Commentary on:

The Federal Reserve System, Its Purposes and Functions, United States of America, Washington, D.C., 1939, Ed.

MORSE, EIsa Peters, The Key to World Peace and Plenty, San Francisco, Summit
Press, 1960.

POPP, Dr. Edward E. , The Great Cookie Jar, Taking the Mystery Out of the Money System, Wisconsin Education Fund, P.O. Box 321, Port Washington, Wisconsin,
53074.

VOORHIS, Jerry, Beyond Victory, Farrar-Straus, New York, 1944.

My thanks also to Wilson Ogg of Berkeley - retired corporate lawyer, genius, the son of Jerry Voorhis' campaign manager, and the only person I know who has ever taken upon himself to read and intellectually comprehend the entire six-hundred, plus pages of the Federal Reserve Act, as it stands, together with all of its amendments, ancillary addendums and nullifications, etc... and who patiently explained and made simple the more arcane aspects of this elaborate shell game.

- Mark Walter Evans

- Published in the North Coast Xpress, 1993 -

[Iolchan]

iolchan wrote:

There Is A Solution

“Actually, the solution to the annual budget crisis is so simple that any schoolchild could think of it. Indeed, many have. The solution is for both the State and the Federal governments to be empowered to issue currency and to write checks against no funds (cash on hand, or gold in the vault) as they were empowered to do under the Articles of Confederation and as the Federal Reserve banks are now empowered to do.

iolchan wrote:

I would argue here and Now, that the fifty States only be empowered to write checks - which are, substantially, money – & not to emit endless reams of fiat notes.

ubaru wrote:

I don't think the way the Federal Reserve banks are creating money out of thin air is a valid form of currency. Are you saying the People should be able to do the same as the Federal Reserve?

Write checks against what? And how is it to be limited?

Are you saying no funds = no cash or gold in the vault?

Where is the actual value in this money? Is it all tied to goods, services, property, gold, silver, and the like?

Those are very interesting Points, & Questions, Liz, and each Point deserves an Answer.

In the first place, the problem with the Federal Reserve Note is not that it is "fiat money" - as the Libertarians, Von Misians, and devotees of the erstwhile Presidential candidate, Ron Paul, maintain. The problem with the FRN is that it is an interest-bearing Debt; a liability of the tax-paying American Public.

It is True, as they say, that there is no Gold behind it.

But what is "behind" it ??? Trillions and trillions of dollars of U.S. Treasury Securities, that fill the Vaults of the Prime Banks of Wall Street; and Prime Banks of the other G7 "hard currency" nations - {and China, also.}

What is "backing" the Federal Reserve Note is fictitious, Fraudulent, Bank-generated "Debt;" generated by a System that is so elaborate - such a shell-game - that it may actually be over the heads of most Americans to comprehend the complexity of it. I hope that it is not over their heads, and that, though they have been "dumbed down" by bread and circuses, they wake up...

You have to consider this whole field in terms of the historical process of how we arrived at this condition - this situation. - And how the Federal Reserve Note is a mockery - an imposter, of the good old Lincoln Greenback Dollar, that the Radical Republicans of the late Nineteenth Century were so fond of, that was a Rallying Cry, and an article of Faith to them - and to the Green-back Party, and to the People's Party >the Populist Party of 1892< that gathered in the discontented left-wing Republicans of the nineteenth century.

Liz, I agree completely that "the way the Federal Reserve banks are creating money out of thin air is [not] a valid form of currency." But I would add, that the Lincoln Greenback Dollar - the fiat, non-interest-bearing, U.S. Treasury Note, is a very valid form of currency. Check out The Science of Money, by Alexander Del Mar, who was the in-house historian of the United States Treasury Department, for many years, in the late nineteenth century.

The point is, as Thomas Edison said, "If“ our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can
issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good."

ubaru wrote:

Write checks against what? And how is it to be limited?

Are you saying no funds = no cash or gold in the vault?

Yes, I Aver, boldly and with confidence, that if the several States can grant franchises to State banks that empower those privately-owned financial corporations to multiply the deposits of Other People's Money to create Bank Credit out of thin air = And IF, Indeed = "Governments derive their Just Powers from the Consent of the Governed" = Then, it Follows = That the Federal Government, and State Governments also, are Able to Create Credit out of thin air, the way banks do. This is what is known as "Economic Democracy."

Which is one Variety of Democracy we have not yet attained to...

As to "how is it to be limited?" The answer to that is contained in the Amendment itself:

[SECTION 6.] Each of the State Treasury departments, of each of the fifty States, are also hereby empowered, by the same creative principle [formerly given by charter to banks] to create Credit within their own jurisdictions, in the form of checks, signed by the State comptrollers, in accordance with appropriations made by the State legislatures, for the purpose of maintaining State institutions, infrastructure, and salaries.

[SECTION 7.] In accordance with the provisions of this Article, all banks and financial institutions in America shall receive new charters from the Treasury. The U.S. Treasury and the Sub-Treasury Common-Wealth Central Bank {and the State Treasuries} shall henceforth have the unique and sole power within the nation to create Credit – a function formerly granted by the government [ and thus erroneously delegated ] only to Banks. Henceforth private banks may charge interest, to service accounts.

[SECTION 8.] In Sum, this Article defines, and enhances the powers granted to Congress and the Treasury, under Article I, Section 8, Clause 5, of this Constitution. Furthermore, it amends and modifies Article I, Section 10, Clause 1, to empower State Treasuries to create [a limited amount of] non-inflationary Credit, in the form of check-book money in order to meet the pressing needs of the States.

ubaru wrote:

Where is the actual value in this money? Is it all tied to goods, services, property, gold, silver, and the like?

The "actual value of this money" is tied to Labor, and Human Needs - the Necessities of Civilization - of the People = the 99%.

iolchan wrote:

“Both John Fiske in The Critical Period in American History, and Charles Beard in An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, address this issue - from different sides of the coin, so to speak. The Continental Congress of 1777 had been a revolutionary body. In a certain sense, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was a counter-revolution.

ubaru wrote:

Will you please describe the characteristics of the two revolutions?

I'm still trying to understand the essence of how the ruling elite create money, and the essence of how it could ideally be done. Could you please succinctly sum up your understanding of it?

This is very interesting,
Liz

Actually, I'd rather not be pressed to comment on the manner in which the Revolutionary Continental Congress of 1777 differed from the secretive, closed-door Sessions of the Constitutional Convention of 1787; unless I were to write a book, or a long, academic article on the subject, complete with many footnotes. And that, I am not currently qualified to do.

To offer a glib, short-hand version of this issue is to trivialize something that is very important, and should be studied by every Citizen of the United States. It should be an on-going field of study that should not end when we leave school. I would rather Charge all of you, to Study, on your own - for yourselves...

Suffice to say that I, personally, have been informed by the two >antithetical< books listed above, i.e., The Critical Period in American History, by John Fiske, and An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, by Charles Beard; and also by The New Nation: A History of the United States During the Confederation, 1781-1789, by Merrill Jensen, and by the antithetical work, "Charles Beard and the Constitution: A Critical Analysis of "An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution" by Robert Eldon Brown.

After reading these books, and after studying the latter thoughts of the elder statesman, Thomas Jefferson, on the Constitution, on Money and Banking - and after studying the whole subsequent course of American History - it became clear to me, {I was able to See} how it would be beneficial to the body politic, if we were to re-institute the powers that were vested in the Federal Government and the Several States under the Articles of Confederation. Specifically: the power to emit bills of credit.

Sincerely,
Mark Walter Evans