Question: Where does our money come from?

[Dozyproductions]

Does anyone know how our money is made?

[Farbin Kaiber]

Don't they print it on a cotton blend with red and blue rags thrown in to make those nifty safety features?

[Dozyproductions]

Haha. When you say there are trillions of dollars in circulation, what does that actually mean? We have physical limitations so assuming that most notes are on electronic check books... question still is, how is our money created and by who? I've been reading up on this but want to know what you guys think.

[Dj Buttchug]

[slammin.e28]

The value on currency is imaginary.

[Dozyproductions]

haha see that's the angle I'm coming from. But when I talk to my friends about what they think... automatic shouting match.


Just crazy how this world is. Our houses can get repossessed... our lives ruined by debt and all the while the very banks we get loans from earn interest from our peers' deposits... which was free for them.

[z31maniac]

Haha. When you say there are trillions of dollars in circulation, what does that actually mean? We have physical limitations so assuming that most notes are on electronic check books... question still is, how is our money created and by who? I've been reading up on this but want to know what you guys think.

The Federal Reserve.

Which is a private institution. It's insane that the US doesn't print it's own money, a power granted in the constitution, but instead pays interest to the banking cartel.

[matthugie]

This is a complex question with no all-encompassing answer, but at a very high level the money supply is created by banks and regulated by the Fed through interest rates and reserve requirements.

Example: You go to the bank and deposit $1,000. The bank has a reserve rate of 10%, so they need to keep $100 on hand and can lend out the rest. I go into the bank for a loan and they give me the $900. Now you have your $1,000 in the books and I have $900 in my hand, for a total of $1,900. Rinse and repeat, and the money supply grows.

The Fed regulates this by changing the reserve requirements and interest rates to affect lending. Very little of the "currency" in circulation is physical. And as slammin said, its value is relative.

[Fusion]

The value on currency is imaginary.

"Value" itself is imaginary.
If you have a Rembrandt painting known today to be worth $2mil. and offer it to someone who doesn't know what it is or how much its worth or doesn't have the money, it has 0 value. Money is just a certificate that says you worked and recieved these certificates to buy something equivalent to your output energy (or sold something, stole them, etc.).
The USD is based solely on faith. There is no reason to believe otherwise. The whole world holds their breath when listening to US employment numbers, stock prices, Bernanke's dumb face etc., because the paper note that is virtually worthless today bases its value on "don't worry, be happy".

[nando]

The Federal Reserve.

Which is a private institution. It's insane that the US doesn't print it's own money, a power granted in the constitution, but instead pays interest to the banking cartel.

the Fed isn't private - it's independent. It's still a federal agency.

that means idiot politicians can't control how our currency works, which I think is a good thing.

[slammin.e28]

But the Fed's board of governors are appointed by the POTUS (for a 14 year term) and approved by the Senate, no?

[mrsleeve]

^

LOL your cute, the POTUS gets a list handed to him of whom he pick from to be chairman of the fed and appoint to "other" similar position. This list comes from the people whom actually OWN the FED. Its a DOG AN PONY SHOW of the highest order, to simulate the trappings of the republic too keep the peasants from revolting and allow them to think they still have a real say in whats being done.

The Federal Reserve.

Which is a private institution. It's insane that the US doesn't print it's own money, a power granted in the constitution, but instead pays interest to the banking cartel.

Thank You Woodrow Wilson.......................


Nando the fed is anything BUT a federal agency, its a 100% private institution conjured up to benefit only a handful of them most wealthy and powerful robber barons of the 19th century and old world money ruling class families

[BraveUlysses]

Yes, this thread is incomplete without some low grade conspiracy theory bullshit.

[Farbin Kaiber]

What, someone with conservative values talking about robber barons and old world money? Is someone a member of the Occupy Tea Party?

[mrsleeve]

Jeckyll Island's secret meeting in 1910, Senator Aldrich, Paul Warburg.................


A little light reading on the topic, will be found with searching those few terms. While you will find much of it to be draped in a bit too much cloak and dagger, the facts of the matter are, the FED is a privately owned banking cartel, owned by many of the of families of those robber barons and some old English ruling class