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Human Freedom Rests on Gold Redeemable Money

by Hon. Howard Buffett
U.S. Congressman from Nebraska
The Commercial and Financial Chronicle 5/6/48

Is there a connection between Human Freedom and A Gold Redeemable Money? At first glance it would seem that money belongs to the world of economics and human freedom to the political sphere.

But when you recall that one of the first moves by Lenin, Mussolini and Hitler was to outlaw individual ownership of gold, you begin to sense that there may be some connection between money, redeemable in gold, and the rare prize known as human liberty.

Also, when you find that Lenin declared and demonstrated that a sure way to overturn the existing social order and bring about communism was by printing press paper money, then again you are impressed with the possibility of a relationship between a gold-backed money and human freedom.

In that case then certainly you and I as Americans should know the connection. We must find it even if money is a difficult and tricky subject. I suppose that if most people were asked for their views on money the almost universal answer would be that they didn't have enough of it.

In a free country the monetary unit rests upon a fixed foundation of gold or gold and silver independent of the ruling politicians. Our dollar was that kind of money before 1933. Under that system paper currency is redeemable for a certain weight of gold, at the free option and choice of the holder of paper money.

Redemption Right Insures Stability

That redemption right gives money a large degree of stability. The owner of such gold redeemable currency has economic independence. He can move around either within or without his country because his money holdings have accepted value anywhere.

For example, I hold here what is called a $20 gold piece. Before 1933, if you possessed paper money you could exchange it at your option for gold coin. This gold coin had a recognizable and definite value all over the world. It does so today. In most countries of the world this gold piece, if you have enough of them, will give you much independence. But today the ownership of such gold pieces as money in this country, Russia, and all divers other places is outlawed.

The subject of a Hitler or a Stalin is a serf by the mere fact that his money can be called in and depreciated at the whim of his rulers. That actually happened in Russia a few months ago, when the Russian people, holding cash, had to turn it in – 10 old rubles and receive back one new ruble.

I hold here a small packet of this second kind of money – printing press paper money – technically known as fiat money because its value is arbitrarily fixed by rulers or statute. The amount of this money in numerals is very large. This little packet amounts to CNC $680,000. It cost me $5 at regular exchange rates. I understand I got clipped on the deal. I could have gotten $2½ million if I had purchased in the black market. But you can readily see that this Chinese money, which is a fine grade of paper money, gives the individual who owns it no independence, because it has no redemptive value.

Under such conditions the individual citizen is deprived of freedom of movement. He is prevented from laying away purchasing power for the future. He becomes dependent upon the goodwill of the politicians for his daily bread. Unless he lives on land that will sustain him, freedom for him does not exist.

You have heard a lot of oratory on inflation from politicians in both parties. Actually that oratory and the inflation maneuvering around here are mostly sly efforts designed to lay the blame on the other party's doorstep. All our politicians regularly announce their intention to stop inflation. I believe I can show that until they move to restore your right to own gold that talk is hogwash.

Paper Systems End in Collapse

But first let me clear away a bit of underbrush. I will not take time to review the history of paper money experiments. So far as I can discover, paper money systems have always wound up with collapse and economic chaos.

Here somebody might like to interrupt and ask if we are not now on the gold standard. That is true, internationally, but not domestically. Even though there is a lot of gold buried down at Fort Knox, that gold is not subject to demand by American citizens. It could all be shipped out of this country without the people having any chance to prevent it. That is not probable in the near future, for a small trickle of gold is still coming in. But it can happen in the future. This gold is temporarily and theoretically partial security for our paper currency. But in reality it is not.

Also, currently, we are enjoying a large surplus in tax revenues, but this happy condition is only a phenomenon of postwar inflation and our global WPA. It cannot be relied upon as an accurate gauge of our financial condition. So we should disregard the current flush treasury in considering this problem.

From 1930-1946 your government went into the red every year and the debt steadily mounted. Various plans have been proposed to reverse this spiral of debt. One is that a fixed amount of tax revenue each year would go for debt reduction. Another is that Congress be prohibited by statute from appropriating more than anticipated revenues in peacetime. Still another is that 10% of the taxes be set aside each year for debt reduction.

All of these proposals look good. But they are unrealistic under our paper money system. They will not stand against postwar spending pressures. The accuracy of this conclusion has already been demonstrated.

The Budget and Paper Money

Under the streamlining Act passed by Congress in 1946, the Senate and the House were required to fix a maximum budget each year. In 1947 the Senate and the House could not reach an agreement on this maximum budget so that the law was ignored.

On March 4 this year the House and Senate agreed on a budget of $37½ billion. Appropriations already passed or on the docket will most certainly take expenditures past the $40 billion mark. The statute providing for a maximum budget has fallen by the wayside even in the first two years it has been operating and in a period of prosperity.

There is only one way that these spending pressures can be halted, and that is to restore the final decision on public spending to the producers of the nation. The producers of wealth – taxpayers – must regain their right to obtain gold in exchange for the fruits of their labor. This restoration would give the people the final say-so on governmental spending, and would enable wealth producers to control the issuance of paper money and bonds.

I do not ask you to accept this contention outright. But if you look at the political facts of life, I think you will agree that this action is the only genuine cure.

There is a parallel between business and politics which quickly illustrates the weakness in political control of money.

Each of you is in business to make profits. If your firm does not make profits, it goes out of business. If I were to bring a product to you and say, this item is splendid for your customers, but you would have to sell it without profit, or even at a loss that would put you out of business. – well, I would get thrown out of your office, perhaps politely, but certainly quickly. Your business must have profits.

In politics votes have a similar vital importance to an elected official. That situation is not ideal, but it exists, probably because generally no one gives up power willingly.

Perhaps you are right now saying to yourself: "That's just What I have always thought. The politicians are thinking of votes when they ought to think about the future of the country. What we need is a Congress with some 'guts.' If we elected a Congress with intestinal fortitude, it would stop the spending all right!"

I went to Washington with exactly that hope and belief. But I have had to discard it as unrealistic. Why?

Because an economy Congressman under our printingpress money system is in the position of a fireman running into a burning building with a hose that is not connected with the water plug. His courage may be commendable, but he is not hooked up right at the other end of the line. So it is now with a Congressman working for economy. There is no sustained hookup with the taxpayers to give him strength.

When the people's right to restrain public spending by demanding gold coin was taken from them, the automatic flow of strength from the grass-roots to enforce economy in Washington was disconnected. I'll come back to this later.

In January you heard the President's message to Congress. or at least you heard about it. It made Harry Hopkins, in memory, look like Old Scrooge himself. Truman's State of the Union message was "pie-in-thesky" for everybody except business. These promises were to be expected under our paper currency system. Why? Because his continuance in office depends upon pleasing a majority of the pressure groups.

Before you judge him too harshly for that performance, let us speculate on his thinking. Certainly he can persuade himself that the Republicans would do the same thing if they were In power. Already he has characterized our talk of economy as "just conversation." To date we have been proving him right. Neither the President nor the Republican Congress is under real compulsion to cut Federal spending. And so neither one does so, and the people are largely helpless.

But it was not always this way.

Before 1933 the people themselves had an effective way to demand economy. Before 1933, whenever the people became disturbed over Federal spending, they could go to the banks, redeem their paper currency in gold, and wait for common sense to return to Washington.

Human Freedom Rests on Gold Redeemable Money

Motorists Illegally Detained at Florida Tolls - For Using Large Bills! | firstcoastnews.com

The Government is completely out of control. When civil liberties were suspended post 9-11 through the Patriot Act many of us, myself included, though that this is the new world we live in and we need protection from the terrorists so we kept our mouths shut and dealt with it. But with each video of a child or a disabled veteran being groped by high school dropouts that were hired by the TSA I grew more anger. Now Florida is illegal detaining motorists simply because people are paying with too large a bill. The worst part of this story is that this was the official policy of the Turnpike Authority and they tried to cover it up when they got caught.

TAMPA, Florida -- Meet Joel Chandler, who just paid his $1.00 toll on the Polk Parkway with a $100 bill, he is not allowed to leave unless he provides personal info to the toll taker. The toll taker tells Chandler this is what happens when they get large bills. She says this is what they have to do. 

Chandler says to the toll taker, "So I'm being detained?" She says, "Yes sir."

It is a policy the Florida Turnpike authority instituted for people who paid with $20, $50 or $100 bills. After it happened once, Chandler kept testing the system and taped his encounters as he went through the toll booths.

One time a toll taker told him she wouldn't give him his change unless he gave her the information. Chandler replied, "So I'm being detained." He asked why he was being detained but never got an answer. 

Chandler says this is a serious criminal offense, to detain someone without proper legal authority. He says that is exactly what the department is doing. 

When Chandler called and emailed the Florida Department of Transportation to complain about the policy, he was told there is no policy to detain people who give large bills. He says that made him more concerned, because that meant there were individual rogue toll takers detaining people. 

The practice continued at toll booth after toll booth and, if someone refused to provide the information, they were threatened with arrest. One toll taker told Chandler's brother Robert, "I could call FHP. Would you like me to do that, sir?" Robert Chandler asked why she would call the Florida Highway Patrol when he was being illegally detained and the toll taker said he could come up with another form of tender. 

Chandler continued to complain and on July 21 at 7:19 p.m., he received an email from the assistant General Counsel of FDOT saying essentially the department didn't know what he was talking about and they don't have sufficient information to investigate. However, earlier that same day, there were a flurry of e-mails going back and forth in the department saying shut the program down, temporarily suspend it and asking who should call Chandler and what they should say. 

According to Chandler, not only was the D.O.T. not being truthful about the policy existing, but he also says they made a concerted effort to cover it up. 

One reason the department might not have wanted the public to know about the program is because of who was being detained. 

Chandler says he thinks it's clear from their own documents there was a lot of racial profiling going on. 

And when you look at the documents from the Florida Department of Transportation, you see there was a policy change about detaining people who gave a $20 bill. The Department decided to leave it up to the discretion of the toll takers to decide who was suspicious. 

The courts have ruled that is unconstitutional, because it allows the preferences and prejudices of an individual to make the decision. 

Chandler says 87 percent of the times toll takers took the time to fill out the form as to why they stopped someone it was a racial description like young black male or young Hispanic male. 

Although FDOT refused to comment because the Department expects to be sued, internal emails justify the program because of counterfeit bills. However, in a two and a half year period the DOT got $16,000 in counterfeit bills, while at the same time it collected close to $2 billion in tolls ($1,523,825,404). 

The Department also spent $32,000 on forms used to catch the $16,000 in funny money. The department also says in e-mails, the program will help law enforcement catch counterfeiters. 

However, as Chandler discovered, in the 885 times the D.O.T. claims it received counterfeit money, not one time was it referred to any law enforcement agency of any description. 

Meantime, Chandler estimates the illegal detainment has happened at least 5 million times. He says it has been crime upon crime upon crime, lie upon lie upon lie. He says it's disturbing because the Department got its hands caught in the cookie jar. 

That's why Chandler wants to file a class action suit against the state. He says what it comes down to it the Department of Transportation will be found by the courts to be involved in the largest criminal conspiracy in the state. 

And if the court were to award everyone who was detained even a small amount to compensate them, it could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Motorists Illegally Detained at Florida Tolls - For Using Large Bills! | firstcoastnews.com

End of Liberty

A very disturbing movie about the loss of Americans' freedom at the hands of our own government. While some parts of this movie are a little far fetched and are way outside the mainstream it is still worth watching as it really shows how liberty and freedom are being lost in this country on a daily basis.

Should it be illegal to post ad seeking Christian roommate?

More unwarranted intrusion by the government in a person's personal business.

GRAND RAPIDS -- The 31-year-old nursing student was looking to keep her expenses down when she decided to invite someone to share her home.

But when she posted an advertisement for a Christian roommate on her local church's bulletin board, the Grand Rapids woman landed in the middle of a civil rights debate that has her facing a complaint of alleged illegal housing discrimination.

The advertisement contained the sentence, "I am looking for a Christian roommate," said Joel Oster, senior litigation counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, which represents the woman.

Someone saw the ad over the summer and anonymously filed a civil rights complaint with the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan. The complaint was then filed with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, and the woman was notified at the end of September.

"I think it's a clear violation on its face," said Nancy L. Haynes, executive director of the local Fair Housing Center. "It's an advertisement that clearly violates the Fair Housing Act."

Although the woman might choose a roommate based on religion, say, after interviewing the person over coffee, she cannot publish an ad with that intent, Haynes said.

"She can choose to rent to a Christian, that's her prerogative," she said. "It's a separate violation to make a discriminatory statement, to publish a discriminatory statement."

But Oster said the law protects his client's rights and allows her to "seek a roommate of similar faith."

"That's insane to think that a person cannot request and seek out a Christian roommate," Oster said. "Each statute protects the right of a person to have a roommate of their own choosing."

The Alliance Defense Fund is a Christian legal group. In a statement released Thursday, Oster added, "Christians shouldn't live in fear of being punished by the government for being Christians. It is completely absurd to try to penalize a single Christian woman for privately seeking a Christian roommate at church -- an obviously legal and constitutionally protected activity.

"Not content to just lock Christians and their beliefs into the four walls of their church or home, some groups also want to invade those walls and force their own ideas upon them by force of law."

Oster declined to identify his client, citing privacy concerns.

A section in the Fair Housing Act does prevent people from publishing an advertisement stating their preference of religion, race or handicap with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling, said Harold Core, director of public affairs for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.

There are exemptions for gender when there is a shared living space, Haynes said.

Core did not comment on the Grand Rapids woman's case specifically, or what could happen in her case.

"It's really difficult to say at this point what could potentially happen," he said.

The MDCR might talk to witnesses, do site visits and request documents. In some cases, depending on the cooperation of the parties involved, a person found to have committed a civil rights violation might have to reimburse another individual who suffered damages, Core said.

"Sometimes it is just a change in policies or practices that are found to be discriminatory," he said.

The Fair Housing Center of West Michigan might ask for an initial reimbursement of $300 for time spent on the issue and training for the woman, in addition to pulling down the ad, Haynes said.

"Our interest really lies in her getting some training so that this doesn't happen again," she said.

The Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter to the MDCR asking that the complaint be dismissed, but has not received a response.

The situation would be different if the woman was a landlord, or ran an apartment complex, Oster said.

"That's a totally different ball game," he said of the woman, who lives in her own home.

But Haynes said this case is not much different.

"This is about a business transaction," she said. "While she's not a landlord per se, she is looking for someone to pay her to live in her house."

I whole heartily agree with intent of the Fair Housing Act, which is a landlord should not be allowed to discriminate against renters based on a persons race, ethnicity or religion. However, when a person is looking for a roommate the fair housing act should not be enforced as generally the intent of getting a roommate is to help defray housing costs, not to generate income, which is what a landlord is doing by renting.

Also because you are sharing the same living space a person's compatibility to be a roommate will be based on additional factors other than ability to pay. Could you imagine how well two roommates might get along say if an Orthodox Jew decided to rent a room in their house but because of religious reasons the Christian roommate was prohibited from using the lights and stove on the Sabbath and had to learn to cook kosher meals? Wouldn't it be easier if the Orthodox Jew were allowed to just put an ad in local synagogue's newsletter seeking an Orthodox Jewish roommate rather than turning down every Christian who answered the ad ,which is what that idiot Nancy L. Haynes, executive director of the local Fair Housing Center, stated was the proper thing to do. Yes, Ms. Haynes we should all waste our time and offend people unnecessarily so that we can follow the letter of law and ignore basic common sense.