Don’t add to the public debt
The United States Treasury can fund all infrastructure and recovery programs with USA Treasury issued bonds debt free. It does not need to run this through the banking system. In fact, the Treasury can issue its own lending to the economy at a modest interest and collect that interest as income. Henry Ford and Thomas …. Read More
Power Currency
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Economics Textbooks
Economic textbooks say that money has three characteristics – medium of exchange, a unit of account, and standard of value. In this chapter, we covered the medium of exchange – money must be accepted and valued by society. We will include a unit of account and standard of value later in the next chapter. Everyone …. Read More
Storage
Electricity us used by everyone but cannot be stored. Fuel can be stored and could be used to back the money, but it is challenging to distribute except through centralized means. Engines are not ‘money,’ but they are an excellent alternative to gold and silver as an asset. Working together, engines, fuel, and electricity can …. Read More
Machines, fuel, electricity
Of course, the biggest drawback is that we cannot store watt-hours or kilowatt-hours. To fix this, we consider Power Currency to have three components. • Machines – steam turbines, nuclear power, PV cells, wind turbine, generator, car engine, ship engines, and farm machines. • Fuels – oil, coal, biomass, sunlight (if harnessed), biodiesel, ethanol, gas, …. Read More
Energy and Water
Besides water, can you think of a commodity used by more people than energy? Everyone uses electricity. The Census says there are 111 million homes in America, and 111 million homes use electricity. If we can find a way to use energy – especially electricity – as a medium of exchange, then we have money …. Read More
Inflation
There is a massive inflation in the money supply. In the 1950s, there was still some restraint on the printing of money, but by 2008 this restraint has died. Now, most of this money is electronic; it is in the bank’s computers as digits. It is too easy for the Federal Reserve to make money …. Read More
Money Stock USA
Previously in Table 1.1, we listed types of money. Below are the levels of the money supply during the 19th to 20th centuries. Today we only think of one kind of money – the Federal Reserve Dollar. This is not normal. Before 1970, there were a lot of different types of money. There was hard …. Read More
Money over time
You can also see a definite shift in our money from debt-free to 99 percent debt. The Federal Reserve Dollars come from money that banks loan into the economy. Note the enormous growth in the amount of Federal Reserve Dollars in the past few decades. These new types of Federal Reserve Dollars are printed, and …. Read More
Money in 19th and 20th Century
19th and 20th Century Money, in millions Source: Figures for coins, silver and greenbacks are estimated from 1980 – 2010. Source: US Statistical Abstract and Federal Reserve Bank You can see that the money supply was somewhat steady until about 1970. In fact, it was tough to inflate. The money was fixed to silver and …. Read More