Bill Gates: ''The ol' dollar, it's gonna go down.''

Originally posted by BitRaiser

Now, I'm not saying that this unified ME currency IS an agressive attempt to knock out the US dollar... but it would sure be an effective strategy if it were.

Which is in my opinion the reason for the unfounded US invasion of Iraq. It's the only way of bringing the US down on its knees. Not so necessarily Saddam's Euro Bourse itself, but the domino effect it would have had on other countries, but which cannot be prevented as we currently see, it can only be delayed, but I am convinced the Dollar will fall. The fact that central banks are selling their US Dollar reserves rapidly is the first serious sign of the beginning, especially for those who didn't believe the Comptroller General and Harvard Professors.

Since the article is pretty long I haven't posted it in its entireness, yet it I'd recommend it to read if you are interested in the subject. It's remarkable to see that not only conspiracy sites seem to be writing about it, but also news papers are starting to do so.

Note to the Mods: forgive me for posting a large section of the article, but just quoting one paragraph does in this particular case not make any sense. I've tried to cut away as much as possible.

Foreign lenders to the US: Straining under limits

...Two elements determine how far foreigners will go as lenders to the US. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the US to satisfy either of them...

Doug Casey - Other articles
Wed 11 Oct, 2006


Two elements determine how far foreigners will go as lenders to the US. The first is akin to a credit test. The second is a portfolio consideration. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the US to satisfy either of them.

Foreigners will accept T-bills and other dollar-denominated IOUs only so long as they believe US borrowers can make good on their debts. The concern is not primarily about explicit defaults. It is about the likelihood of a slow-motion default via inflation. It is a concern about the future value of the dollar. Confidence that the dollar will hold its value is strained with every increase in the US budget deficit (which increases the US government’s incentive to inflate) and with every increase in the overall level of US debt to foreigners (which encourages the public’s tolerance for inflation).

It would take a phenomenally slow person, say, a central banker, to have much faith in Uncle Sam’s good credit when the US can’t pay its current bills by a very wide margin — and has trouble saying "no" to new spending plans. But even the faith of a central banker must have its limits.

Foreign lenders to the US: Red ink

Perhaps the central bankers haven’t yet seen the Government Accounting Office’s latest projections of US federal government red ink. Based on straightforward assumptions that (i) regular income tax rates continue, (ii) the alternative minimum tax is adjusted and (iii) discretionary spending grows with GDP; the projection for spending, and thus the budget deficit, flies off the map. By 2040, the yearly deficit grows from the current 3% of GDP to 40%!

The second element in the calculations of foreign lenders is a portfolio consideration. Owning too much of anything is worrisome. So even if the risk of the dollar losing its value were modest (which it no longer is), as foreign holdings of dollar-denominated securities grow, the risk eventually becomes intolerable.

When it comes to foreign holdings of US investments, the numbers are enormous. Japan alone has bet over $1 trillion on the dollar’s ability to hold its value. That’s enough to breed uneasiness in any portfolio manager. And the numbers keep growing because the US keeps importing goods by the boatload and paying with dollar-denominated IOUs. The breaking point is getting closer at a rate of $2 billion per day.

The great irony is that the US is counting on foreigners to invest $2 billion per day...at a time when they are not winning many hearts and minds abroad. The counterproductive and unwinnable war in Iraq is just the unhappiest part of the current picture. Among other reasons why hatred for Americans is rising are:

...

...

...


Foreign lenders to the US: The US a "hypocritical thug"

In short, the American global cop, far from harvesting the gratitude of a world made safer, is perceived as a hypocritical and plundering thug—hardly the sort of thing that makes foreigners line up to invest in America.

US heavy-handedness abroad and the ill will it inspires are dangerous for many reasons, including their effect on the US dollar. War in Iraq and sabre-rattling over Iran are driving the price of the oil and other imports up in the US, which increases the trade deficit, which adds to the pile of dollar-denominated IOUs held by foreigners. And the same belligerence confirms in many Middle-Eastern minds that the US is driven by an anti-Islamic agenda. It gives them a non-financial motive for embracing alternatives to the dollar: the euro, the yen—anything not made in the US Other foreigners see the belligerence as more evidence that the US government is a reckless spender and heedless of the consequences of its growing debt.

Is there anything the US government can do to stop the train wreck? Earlier governments tried sacrificing virgins to the gods to ward off disaster, but the practice seldom worked and isn’t likely to be revived. The Federal Reserve could try raising interest rates still higher, high enough to convince foreign central banks to hold on to their dollar investments, but that has about the same chances of working as tossing gold-laden virgins into deep, water-filled sinkholes did. It might protect the Dollar Standard for a while, but it would turn residential real estate into a financial graveyard and trigger the depression the Fed is trying to avoid. Of course, the Fed could fight a contraction in the economy… by lowering interest rates. But that would bring on a flight from the dollar and a more rapid end to the Dollar Standard. There is no way out.

Foreign lenders to the US: Extreme volatility

If we’re right about a coming monetary regime change, it’s hard to imagine a future for the US that isn’t grim, with plenty of harm splashed around on its trading partners: inflation...currency crisis...dollar crash...government instability...internal conflict for scarce resources...welfare system collapse...skyrocketing unemployment...taxes raised on a population burdened with an uncompetitive US economy...dollar down 40%, 60%, 80%?...emergence of competitive economic battles on too many fronts: China, India, Japan, Russia—and on too many military fronts. End of empire/Fall of Rome redux...the Greater Depression.

We are already seeing extreme volatility in emerging markets as the hedge funds beat a hasty retreat for liquidity. Get used to it.

Remember, never before in history has the unbacked paper currency of a single country been used as the de facto reserves of the world’s central banks. We are truly in Terra Incognita, uncharted territory — and a hair trigger away from a currency crisis that, once begun, will quickly spin out of control.

Daily Reckoning UK edition

[edit on 20-10-2006 by Mdv2]

The US now and the Nazi Germany have some similarities...

What caused the great depression for Germany in the 20s?
The printing of money to pay the debt of WW1...
What will cause the great depression for US in 2007/2008?
The printing of money to pay the debt of Iraq, Afghanistan and the militaro-industrial complex.

What this great depression led Germany to?
Fascism.
What the coming great depression will lead US to?
Technological Fascism.

Why the german people give up all their rights?
A foreign imaginary engineered threat. (Jews)
Why the american people give up all their rights?
A foreign imaginary engineered threat. (Al-Qaeda)

What started this fear of an imaginary threat in Germany?
The burning of the Reichtag by Hitler's SS.
What started this fear of an imaginary threat in USA?
The attack on 9/11 on the Pentagon and the WTC, by the neo-cons.

So I think that in the next few months, maybe 2 years, this will happen:
- Economic krash, worse than 1929.
- Rise of fascism.
- North American Union.

But something that are differents from nazi germany...
- We know the truth about 9/11.
- Internet is a great tool of seeing past the government lies about EVERYTHING.
- A lot of people are armed to the teeth.
- Because we know the truth about 9/11, we know that the real threat is inside the US, not outside, so we'll not give up our constitution as a lot of germans did in the 30s/40s.

So if they want to achieve their fascism in the US, they'll have to:
- Deconnnect Internet, or close a hell lot of website.
- Disarm people.
- Kill all 9/11 truthers.

Lately, I've been reading other threads on ATS people questioning the credibility of the claim that the US economy is likely to collapse within a time frame of years. The commonly used argument of those people is that mankind have been predicting the great collapse for years, which is true. However, it is not only conspiracy theorists and mad men currently claiming the economy to collapse soon, it is educated people, such as politicians, professors financial experts and very recently also news papers reporting it.

Al Gore made a wonderful statement during the tour he is currently making through Europe:

There's a well known psychological phenomena called denial. If something is painful to think about, if it causes anxiety, one of the easiest responses just to refuse to think about it

After all, the US economy has been the strongest and most powerful economy in the past age and many uneducated people or people whom refuse to see reality still think it's as strong and healthy as it once was. It's not so strange if we may believe Gore's statement. The idea that the US is heading for a financial disaster sounds surreal, and particularly the consequences it would come with are disturbing and frightening to many. Enough historical examples are available; most well known example the great depression of 1928, the consequences for Germany were catastrophic.

Fox News claims that the deficit is gradually decreasing, which in fact is primarily caused by an increase of government profit (tax revenues), yet the average American seems to think that Fox is showing the reality, while future predictions are not looking good at all.

To name an example, this month for instance another report showed that the US trade deficit 'hits all-time high'.
Denying the fact that the US economy is in my opinion utterly ignorant. I do understand people being skeptical when people like me predicting a collapse, but refusing to take warning signs seriously from people like Comptroller General David M. Walker, Professor Kotlikoff, chief economist at investment banking Morgan Stanley, Stephen Roach, and many others is utterly ignorant.

This morning the Philadelphia Inquirer publicized an interesting article on this topic, which clearly indicates the contradictories of press releases such as ‘’Dow hits 12.000 points’’ and the economic doom scenario.

Since the article is too long to quote in its entireness though, I'd recommend to read it in full.

The following paragraph drew my attention in specific:

What about economic growth? Can't the United States outgrow its obligations? Theoretically yes, but practically no. The postwar norm is for senior benefits to grow roughly twice as fast as the economy. Yes, there are ways to restructure U.S. entitlements to limit benefit growth and still save the day. But Washington has no appetite for anything radical. Indeed, Washington's concerted approach to our nation's demographic/fiscal crisis is to ignore it.

The status quo, we're led to believe, is the safe bet, the conservative option, the riskless alternative. But when the status quo involves driving off a cliff, maintaining it is the risky, radical, indeed, suicidal choice. The United States is now engaged in such "staticide" - the maintenance of a suicidal status quo. Its policies are driving the country to fiscal, financial and economic ruin. The only question is when the crash will occur and which households and businesses will be in the passenger seats.

Financial markets have, it seems, no inkling of what's coming. But these markets often need a two-by-four across the forehead to come to their senses. This is one of those times. Long-term U.S. Treasury Bonds are yielding 5 percent when, in fact, the United States is facing bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy may seem a strong word, especially when the economy is booming, the deficit shrinking, and the Dow nuzzling 12,000. But economic growth and rising stock markets don't preclude economic collapse. Recall: The Great Depression followed the Roaring Twenties. Or consider Argentina's decade of outstanding growth and stock market appreciation before going belly-up in 2002.

As for the deficit, it's a figment of government fiscal labeling with no economic content. If you want to talk turkey with respect to our nation's finances, consider the U.S. fiscal gap, which measures the present value difference between Uncle Sam's projected future expenditures and tax receipts. It stands at $63 trillion! This figure captures all implicit as well as explicit U.S. liabilities and comes by way of a highly reliable source - the U.S. Treasury.

...

Another way to assess U.S. insolvency is to consider the immediate and permanent fiscal adjustments needed to close the country's fiscal gap. Here are some options:

a 70 percent increase in personal and corporate income taxes;

a 109 percent hike in payroll taxes;

a 91 percent cut in federal discretionary spending; or

a 45 percent cut in Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Adopting any of these policies or some combination of them would be incredibly painful. Waiting is no alternative. It just makes the requisite adjustments larger and more painful.

...

Full story

They have got detainment centres in Canada & Australia as well. This is going to be an economic collapse of the entire West. Possibly so they can bring in electronic credit & debits via bank cards then the chip. This will be embraced as a saviour to restore people's lifstyles after a depression. People won't take a chip now BUT a couple of months without work, no food, no jobs, it will be a different story.
I've been stocking up on gold & silver & food but we all know they will make it illegal to own it and will confiscate it. People can still buy groceries at safeway with gold and the dentist my wife worked for also excepts gold.
Too top it off it will be politically correct because the gov't will track all purchases and you won't be able to purchase junk food, or alcohol, or drugs, cause the gov't will know and set acceptable limits or they won't give you your weekly supply of electronic credits.
This will set insurance rates, health care costs, etc.
It's really gonna suck.
The drop in oil prices is also causing the oil & gas companies to stop drilling. Rigs are already be stacked in Western Canada which is bizarre because winter is usually the busiest time in the patch.

Originally posted by BattleofBatoche
This is going to be an economic collapse of the entire West.

It will probably be a disaster not limited to the Western world only. The Great Depression of last century differs in the perspective of Europe and the United States as economically and industrially most developed countries, while currently the Asian and Middle East region will now be greatly harmed by such a collapse as well.

Originally posted by BattleofBatoche
Possibly so they can bring in electronic credit & debits via bank cards then the chip. This will be embraced as a saviour to restore people's lifstyles after a depression. People won't take a chip now BUT a couple of months without work, no food, no jobs, it will be a different story.

Kind of a futuristic notion I'd say... did you read anything about those chips, if so could you paste some links?

Originally posted by BattleofBatoche
I've been stocking up on gold & silver & food but we all know they will make it illegal to own it and will confiscate it. People can still buy groceries at safeway with gold and the dentist my wife worked for also excepts gold.

Many people will define your emergency precautionary measures as ridiculous, but those belong to the usual majority that will be too late when it happens. And After all, what does it cost to gradually stock up a bit of food, seeds, and other first necessities of life, and other useful things in times of crisis?

And in the history, the economic situation is always before the political one... great depression:fascism. Also, during the 29s great depression, people were able to eat with the help of the government, back then, we were 121 millions in the us... now 300 millions. The world's population in 29, about 2 billions, now near 7. I'm sure a great depression would lead to massives riots all over the world, particuraly in the western world because our food come from abroad and there's wouldn't be enough food locally.

As I already mentioned, more and more prominent newspapers are starting to report about the coming Dollar collapse. I'm carefully monitoring the internet for new articles and for those who don't know much about the Dollar system might want to read the English translation from the German newspaper 'Spiegel'.

It accurately describes how the Dollar system works, why investors are forced to continue buying Dollars, why the Federal Reserves constantly raises the interest rates and so on.

Source

The crash can be deferred, but not stopped

The dependence of foreign central banks on the dollar will defer its crash, but it won't prevent it. Today's snowdrift will become tomorrow's avalanche. The masses of snow are already accumulating at breathtaking speed. The avalanche could happen tomorrow, in a few months or years from now. Much of what people today think is immortal will be buried by the global currency crisis -- perhaps even the leadership role of the United States.

Incidentally, the commission that former US President Bill Clinton created to investigate the negative balance of trade concluded in clear terms that the government has to do whatever it can to put an end to the growing disparity between imports and exports. It demanded that the public give up its optimism and return to realism, that people start saving again and that the state reduce its imports in order to prevent too hard a crash landing.

None of that has been done. In fact, what is being done is the opposite of everything the experts recommended. Debt is growing, imports are increasing and an optimism now lacking every basis in reality has become official state policy. Lester Thurow, a member of Clinton's commission, draws the sober conclusion that no one will believe the US balance of trade could produce a crisis "until it happens."

It's time for Washington to wake up should they want to try avoiding it from escalating. Unfortunately the Bush Administration seems to prefer to ignore this, which also applies for the global warming. After all, Iraq is much more important, isn't it?

[edit on 25-10-2006 by Mdv2]

External Source

Pulte lays off nearly a third of workforce
Wednesday October 25, 3:10 pm ET

Pulte Home Corp. laid off almost a third of its workforce Wednesday, the same day the latest figures for home sales revealed a dramatic slowing of the local housing market.

Pulte laid off about 60 workers from a local workforce of a little more 200 people. The Florida Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that sales of existing single-family homes in the Jacksonville area fell 23 percent from a year ago.

A Pulte spokesperson was not available for comment.

Pulte is the second-largest Jacksonville area homebuilder, having built 1,167 homes in 2005.

Published October 25, 2006 by The Business Journal

So the real estate market is slowly crashing around Jacksonville?

Alex Jones just had on his show today the last director of the World Bank and he said that we're going to a very rough depression if it's not manages well... and he said that now it's very bad manage...

Also, the big banks are talking how to survive, not to save the situation, they try to manage to survive! BANKS! Imagine the population?

Another warning coming from the Comptroller General David M. Walker again:

What they don't talk about is a dirty little secret that everyone in Washington knows, or at least should. The vast majority of economists and budget analysts agree: The ship of state is on a disastrous course and will founder on the reefs of economic disaster if nothing is done to correct it.

There's a good reason that politicians don't like to talk about the nation's long-term fiscal prospects. The subject is short on political theatrics and long on complicated economics, scary graphs and very big numbers. It reveals serious problems and offers no easy solutions.

Source

Unfortunately, war has become the current state of mind, it would have been so much better if this capital had been injected into the US economy.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420

In the event of an economic crash in the US, how would people trade, buy food, etc.? Would it require some form of ID system that would give each individual the ability to "buy/sell"?

The whole world would collapse then!

There would be no US collapse without the world immediately following and the US coming back first and the rest of the world following slowly.

Originally posted by bodebliss
The whole world would collapse then!

There would be no US collapse without the world immediately following and the US coming back first and the rest of the world following slowly.

Care to elaborate?

I agree with you that a collapse of the US economy would definitely result in a collapse on global scale, however, I seriously doubt your assertion that the US economy would be first to recover from such a collapse. We’re not living in the 1930s anymore.
Not to speak of the possibility that such a collapse could easily escalate into a second civil war, which the government already seems to be taking into account.

1987 LOOK at that. The turmoil it caused was global.

The US recovered first.







[edit on 10/29/2006 by bodebliss]

This is looking really really bad.

ABU DHABI — The UAE Central Bank may cut its US dollar dominated reserves by up to 90 per cent and is looking at other currencies such as the yen, euro and sterling, Sultan Nasser Al Suwaidi, Governor, Central Bank of the UAE, said yesterday. However, he did not elaborate on the topic further.

"The bank hopes to lower the dollar share of its foreign currency reserves to a range of between 50 per cent to 90 per cent," Al Suwaidi said. At present, he said 98 per cent of the bank's reserves holdings are in US dollars. The foreign currency reserves of the UAE currently stand at over $25 billion. The Central Bank is yet to convert 10 per cent of the total reserves into euros and gold, a decision it took earlier this year.

Business Times

Remember, the UAE Dirham is pegged to the US Dollar and always had roughly 90 percent of its reserves in Dollars.

and

CMC Markets' analyst Ashraf Laidi said in a client note that traders should be wary of the continuing diversification of central bank reserves away from US dollars.

He referred to comments from the United Arab Emirates central bank yesterday that it plans to increase its holdings in euro reserves by 10 pct, as well as raising its share in sterling and yen reserves while reducing its greenback reserves to as low as 50 pct of the total 25 bln usd it currently holds.

Laidi said the UAE bank comments follow recent statements by the Swiss National Bank that it has added more yen to its 36 bln usd in currency reserves and trimmed the share of US dollars while a few weeks ago Russia's central bank announced it had started buying yen for its reserves.

Forbes

Costello seeks orderly $US withdrawal

TREASURER Peter Costello has called on East Asia's central bankers to "telegraph" their intentions to diversify out of American investments and ensure an orderly adjustment.

Central banks in China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong have channelled immense foreign reserves into American government bonds, helping to prop up the US dollar and hold down American interest rates.

Mr Costello said "the strategy had changed" and Chinese central bankers were now looking for alternative investments.

Source

[edit on 31-10-2006 by Mdv2]

I learn today that a recoverable debt was along 120% of his own budget...

If the US 2007 budget is 1250 billions and the debt is 8560 billions, the % of debt is 670%... so if the US dollars fails, the US will never recover unless they change their whole economy system. The US would be bankrupt... and a lot of countries such as China or Russia would take advantage of this...maybe the day will come that a country will try to invade the US or attack it because it will be weak...

I think the crash will occur after Christmas time... maybe around february-march... and what will the cause of all this debt? The militaro-industrial complex, rockerfeller, bush and the rothschild families.

[edit on 31-10-2006 by Vitchilo]

Yesterday I wrote a message in another thread on the factors causing the Dollar to depreciate/appreciate, and why China cannot cut Dollar reserves, whil the Dollar's is gradually depreciating.

I copied the message, and additionally included some current press releases, which perfectly show how fragile the Dollar has become.

_______

Two important factors determining the value of a currency against another is speculation and in addition supply/demand.

China, Japan, European countries are the three biggest purchasers of US debts. If one or all for some reason would stop buying US debts, the US economy would inevitably collapse at once. Those countries literally carry the US financial burden, and enable US people to live their rich lives; avoid that FIAT money becomes worthless. Other countries use similar strategies, but one crucial difference is that US has become so dependent on debt buyers that it becoming a serious threat. Later on I'll explain why.

The US is China's second trading partner, which is too important to lose. That's why they purchase US debts, not because they are so profitable, cause they aren't. However, the ever increasing amount of US debts puts downwards pressure on the value of the US Dollar against other currencies, and simultaneously supply increases, which also puts downwards pressure on the Dollar. China has approximately purchases US Treasure-bills worth 1 trillion US Dollar. Since the Dollar's value is depreciating, the profitability of those Treasury-Bills is decreasing.

Moreover, The Federal Reserve which is not a government institution as many people think but a private organization owned by rich Jewish families stopped publicizing M3 money supply details. Why? Because it is suspected of printing unlimited amounts of Dollars, in order to buy off US debts and thus keeps the economy running.

So China is the country finding itself between a rock and a hard place. Since they cannot stop purchasing US dollars (in order to avoid it and the US economy from crashing), but simultaneously it's losing money on purchasing T-bills (since the downwards pressure on the US Dollar continues).

Speculators don't act on results and facts, but on what they expect to happen. That's why central banks are ''diversifying'' (read cutting Dollar Reserves). They are trying to avoid possessing large reserves of worthless US Dollars after it has collapsed. An example is the Central Bank of the UAE, which is going to sell off between 40 and 90% of its Dollar reserves. If China would announce to sell large amounts of Dollars, the economy would crash on a global scale The recent press release about China's thoughts to diversify limited amounts of Dollars did already put downwards pressure on the Dollar, then you can probably imagine what the above mentioned scenario would cause.

Financial analysts expect it to muddle along for as long as possible. Meanwhile, no one will be warned, otherwise it would collapse, and result in a chaotic situation.
Measures have to be taken, should we want to avoid it, but chances are very small. The financial policy of the current administration is largely responsible for the current state, so blaming Democrats about tax raises is ignorant as actions has to be taken rather today than tomorrow.

For those who say ''yes you are a Euro and US basher'' I'm not, however, I'm in the same boat as the Euro would collapse as well.

Press release reflecting the fragileness, volatility of the Dollar.

Euro gains as China plans to dump U.S. dollar reserves
By Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Fri, Nov 10, 2006 11:00 AM EST

The U.S. dollar faltered in overnight trading after comments from Zhou Xiaochuan, head of the Bank of China, led to speculation that China is considering divesting its monetary reserves of U.S. dollars.

The effects of these comments were short-lived as the U.S. dollar returned to previous-day levels early Friday morning.

Ottawa Business Journal

[edit on 11-11-2006 by Mdv2]

The little speculation done by individuals means nothing in the currencies. It's the hedge funds and nation-states which cause the fluctuations in currency pricings and the power of the hedge funds are growing.

Originally posted by Vitchilo
The US now and the Nazi Germany have some similarities...

What caused the great depression for Germany in the 20s?
The printing of money to pay the debt of WW1...
What will cause the great depression for US in 2007/2008?
The printing of money to pay the debt of Iraq, Afghanistan and the militaro-industrial complex.

I am no econ major, so I can't really say for sure either way, but I haven't seen overwhelming evidence that this will occur (it is entirely possible, but no necessarily certain).

What this great depression led Germany to?
Fascism.
What the coming great depression will lead US to?
Technological Fascism.

This is pure speculation. While possible, there is no historical precedent for depression meaning fascism. There was an American depression around the same time that was not fascist, and other depressions (ie. French depression after the American Civil War) lead to more of a communist/socialist state.

What started this fear of an imaginary threat in Germany?
The burning of the Reichtag by Hitler's SS.
What started this fear of an imaginary threat in USA?
The attack on 9/11 on the Pentagon and the WTC, by the neo-cons.

Do you have evidence of this? From experts who actually know what they are talking about? Most of the conspiracy sites I have seen were from people who had enough knowledge to totally # up what they were saying.

So I think that in the next few months, maybe 2 years, this will happen:
- Economic krash, worse than 1929.
- Rise of fascism.
- North American Union.

Convenient for exactly those things to happen...

But something that are differents from nazi germany...
- We know the truth about 9/11.
- Internet is a great tool of seeing past the government lies about EVERYTHING.
- A lot of people are armed to the teeth.
- Because we know the truth about 9/11, we know that the real threat is inside the US, not outside, so we'll not give up our constitution as a lot of germans did in the 30s/40s.

So if they want to achieve their fascism in the US, they'll have to:
- Deconnnect Internet, or close a hell lot of website.
- Disarm people.
- Kill all 9/11 truthers.

Because nobody on the internet is a crack-pot, right?? www.lhup.edu...

Anyone can put anything they want on the internet. A lot of them are pretty good at selectively taking facts to support their cause as well, even if the facts put together refute their claims. Before you believe in a conspiracy, actually look into what they are saying and the science behind it, and decide for yourself if everything they say makes sense.

A sure and unmistakable sign of an idiot is when someone blathers about “printing money” and America's money supply. When you read something about how the government is “printing money” and it's going to cause inflation, read no further. The writer is an idiot and doesn't have the first notion of how money is actually created.

For the idiots out there: The money supply is not expanded by “printing money”.

The money supply is much larger than the supply of actual paper bills in circulation. In simple terms, the Federal Reserve expands or contracts the money supply by decreasing or increasing the amount of money banks must keep in reserve.

An example: Say I put $100 in my bank account and later that day Tom comes by the bank to borrow $100 dollars. The money supply has just expanded by $100. Tom has his $100 and I can still get mine.

Now if the Fed wanted to decrease the money supply, the would increase the amount a bank had to keep in reserve. So in the prior example, say the Fed increased the bank's reserve amount, then Tom would only be able to borrow $50 instead of $100.

The money supply MUST grow with the economy or dangerous deflation results. In many ways deflation is WORSE than inflation, because inflation creates an incentive to buy today rather than tomorrow. But deflation creates an incentive to buy tomorrow rather than today. This causes an economy to grind to a halt as consumers sit on the sidelines waiting for prices to drop further.

[edit on 12-11-2006 by Number23]




(Mod note: Warning issued. Please refrain from using insults to bolster your point. If it's valid, you don't need to use them. --Majic)

[edit on 11/13/2006 by Majic]