Fake Money’s Face Value Deceit

Shane Anthony Mele stumbled off the straight and narrow path many years ago.  One bad decision here.  Another there.  And he was neck deep in the smelly stuff.

These missteps compounded over the years and also magnified his natural shortcomings.  Namely, that he’s a thief and – to be polite – a moron.  Recently the confluence of these two failings came together like a sewage spill to a river draining through the center of town.

Mele made a dishonest mistake.  He failed to recognize that he’s not the only dishonest soul operating in a dishonest world.  That is, he failed to comprehend the difference between face value and real value.

So it was, with dishonest intentions, that he burgled a rare coin collection with no clue what it was that he’d taken.  To his soft and greedy mind all he saw was a hoard of coins with a face value of One Dollar.  Thus, he redeemed them for cash.  Zero Hedge offers the details:

“After stealing a rare coin collection from an elderly and disabled retiree, Shane Anthony Mele, dumped what their owner said was at least $33,000 worth of collectible coins down a Coin Star machine at a Florida supermarket and collected their face value, receiving about $30 – enough for a couple of 12 packs.”

A Downright Disgrace

Mele, no doubt, is a thief and a moron.  He’s also a thief and a moron that got caught up in something he doesn’t understand.  He may be dishonest.  But the world he’s operating in is also dishonest.

Stealing someone else’s property and then reducing the spoils valued at $33,000 to a payout of about $30 is a remarkable achievement.  Mele’s Coin Star transaction delivered a loss of over 99.9 percent.  But he’s not alone…

The Federal Reserve, in concert with the U.S. Treasury, has been part of an extensive currency debasement program for over a century.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics very own inflation calculator, the Fed has succeeded at reducing the dollar’s value by about 96 percent.  In other words, it takes a dollar today to buy what $0.04 could buy roughly 100 years ago.

This track record of wealth destruction, on a percent basis, is nearly equivalent with Mele’s Coin Star transaction.  However, on a total basis, the Fed’s program to debase the dollar’s value is the greatest act of thievery the world’s every known.

Whereas Mele’s just a thief and a moron, the Fed’s action is taken with the purpose and full knowledge that it’s thieving and transferring wealth to the U.S. government and the big banks.  This, without question, is a downright disgrace.

The Fed’s currency debasement program, in addition to thieving the bank accounts of Americans and dollar holders the world over, is also extremely disruptive to commerce and personal wealth building.  Consider the condition that derived Mele’s face value blooper…

Fake Money’s Face Value Deceit

The Morgan dollar was minted in the U.S. from 1878 to 1904 and again in 1921.  The coin has a face value of $1 – on its tails side it explicitly says One Dollar.  But it has a silver content of 0.7734 ounce.  At today’s silver price, of roughly $15.14 per ounce, the Morgan dollar has a melt value of $11.70.  Of course, collectible Morgan dollars are worth much more.

The point is the Morgan dollar’s real money.  It has real value.  It cannot be created at will.

Over issuance of dollars by the Fed, and the forced use of legal tender, have replaced real money with fake money.  The fake money’s still called dollars.  The One Dollar bill says it is One Dollar.  Yet it’s really just $0.04.  The other $0.96 has been confiscated by the Fed for Washington’s bidding.

Mele, the thief and moron, didn’t stand a chance against the Fed’s dishonest shenanigans.  But, alas, the honest and upright also don’t stand a chance.

Washington’s spending habits, egged on by the Fed, slipped into decay many decades ago.  The decline towards insolvency has accelerated as the thin façade of fiscal rectitude has crumbled.  The national debt is going parabolic.

For example, the national debt doubled from roughly $5.5 trillion at the turn of the new millennium to roughly $11 trillion when President Obama took office.  From there, it doubled again to roughly $22 trillion today.  Over $1 trillion is being added to the debt each year, and we expect we’ll see $2 trillion deficits when the economy slips into decline possible later this year.  Here’s why…

Congress prioritizes the expedient, and reelection, over responsible governance.  Their modus operandi for the last 50 years – or more – has been to kick the can down the road.  To punt the debt problem into the future.

As the economy slows, new stimulus will be piled upon the deficit with reckless abandon.  Nothing but complete collapse will halt the expansion of government and runaway debt growth.

In the interim, like an encounter with a war veteran with missing limbs, fake money’s face value deceit imparts a daily reminder of the wickedness today’s monetary order has wrought.

Sincerely,

MN Gordon
for Economic Prism

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