Why does fiat money seemingly work?

I read an excellent article a few days ago that sheds a lot of light on Ron Paul's stance on the Federal Reserve system etc. Well worth the read to stay abreast of the issues this election, if not simply to have a better understanding of our money and government etc (if you live here in the US).

"Why does fiat money seemingly work?"

The article explains the importance of the shift between currency backed by gold and silver to unbacked currency as the images below of one of the original Silver Certificates and one of the modern Federal Reserve Notes show.


Before 1913 bills were labeled along the lines of "Silver Certificate - This certifies that there has been deposited in the Treasury of the United States of America One Silver Dollar payable to the bearer upon demand". After the institution of the Federal Reserve, currency was moved to unbacked notes that bore the phrase "Federal Reserve Note - This Note is Legal Tender for all debts, public and private" that relied simply upon the Federal Reserve saying they had value. Read the article linked above for a much more in-depth explanation of the historical chain of events that led to this change.

Excellent article on Ron Paul's historical relationship with Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson

I just read an excellent article that sheds some light on the issue surrounding the possible reluctance of people who might be hesitant to vote for Ron Paul on the grounds that they feel his reforms might be too radical.

The author goes on to cover the legacies of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, who both made similar, if not even more radical, changes during their presidencies, and how that actually garnered them re-elections and massive public support after initially narrowly winning the elections.

An excellent read!

Zeitgeist

I just watched a documentary of sorts called "Zeitgeist".

This movie was fascinating in its scope and revelations. I knew a fair portion of this information, but even I was floored by the scope of the information they presented and the cohesive manner in which they presented it.

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

Have a look for yourself. Its assertions and information are simply staggering

I'm including two quotes from the website linked above. First we have the "about" page from http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/statement.htm:

Thank you for your interest in Zeitgeist.
Zeitgeist was created as a not for profit expression to inspire people to start looking at the world from a more critical perspective and to understand that very often things are not what the population at large think they are. The information in Zeitgeist was established over a year long period of research and the current Source page on this site lists the sources used / referenced.
Soon, an interactive transcript will be online with detailed footnotes and links.

It's important to point out that there is a tendency to simply disbelieve things that are counter to our understanding, without the necessary research performed.
For example, some information contained in Part 1 and Part 3, specifically, is not obtained by simple keyword searches on the Internet. You have to dig deeper. For instance, very often people who look up "Horus" or "The Federal Reserve" on the Internet draw their conclusions from very general or biased sources. Online encyclopedias or text book Encyclopedias often do not contain the information contained in Zeitgeist. However, if one takes the time to read the sources provided, they will find that what is being presented is based on documented evidence.

That being said, it is my hope that people will not take what is said in the film as the truth, but find out for themselves, for truth is not told, it is realized.

Thank you

And the sources as referenced in the above quote, from http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/sources.htm:

Basic Sources:

Part 1:
Massey, Gerald - The Historic Jesus and the Mythical Christ, The Book Tree
Acharya S - The Christ Conspiracy, Adventures Unlimited Press
Massey, Gerald - Ancient Egypt: Light of the World, Kessinger Publishing
Churchward, Albert -The Origin and Evolution of Religion, The Book Tree
Acharya S - Suns of God, Adventures Unlimited Press
Murdock, D.M. - Who was Jesus?, Steller House Publishing
Allegro, John - The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth, Prometheus Books
Maxwell, Tice, Snow - That Old Time Religion, The Book Tree
King James Version, The Holy Bible, Holman
Leedom, Tim C - The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You To Read, TS Books
Paine, Thomas - The Age of Reason
Remsburg, John E. - The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidence of His Existence, Prometheus Books
Massey, Gerald - Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Mysteries of Amenta, Kessinger Publishing
Irvin, Jan & Rutajit, Andrew - Astrotheology and Shamanism, The Book Tree
Doherty, Earl - The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ?, Age of Reason Pub.
Campbell, Joseph - Creative Mythology: The Masks of God, Penguin
Doane, T.W. - Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions, Health Research
Maxwell, Jordan: The Light of World (Film Series) IRES
The Naked Truth (Film) IRES

Part 2:
Griffin, David Ray - 911 The Myth and the Reality
Ruppert, Michael -The Truth and Lies of 9-11
Avery, Dylan - Loose Change 2nd Edition
Berger, Michael - Improbable Collapse
Avatar, LLC - 911 Mysteries
Hilder, Anthony J.- Illuminazi 911
Mugford, Duistin - September 11th Revisited
Hufschmid, Eric - Painful Deceptions
Zwickerm, Barrie - 911 The Great Conspiracy
Duffy, John - 911 Press For Truth
Jones, Alex - Martial Law 9/11
Jones, Alex - TerrorStorm
Hilder, Anthony J.-The Greatest Lie Ever Sold
vonKleist, Dave - 911 In Plane Site
Humphrey, George - 911 The Great Illusion

** Important Reference Books **
Ruppert, Michael - Crossing the Rubicon, New Society Publishers
Tarpley, Webster - 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, Progressive Press
Griffin, David Ray - The New Pearl Harbor, Interlink
Griffin, David Ray - Debunking 9/11 Debunking, Olive Branch Press
Griffin, David Ray -The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions And Distortions, Olive Branch Press
Marrs, Jim - The Terror Conspiracy: Deception, 9/11 and the Loss of Liberty, Disinformation Company


Part 3:
Perloff, James - The Shadows of Power, Western Islands
Marrs, Jim - Rule by Secrecy, Harper Paperbacks
Dye, Thomas R. - The Irony of Democracy, Wadsworth Publishing
Greider, William - Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country, Simon & Schuster
F.D.R.: His Personal Letters, Duell/Sloan/Pearce
Allen, Fredrick Lewis - "Morgan The Great"/ Life Magazine - 4/25/1949
Simpson, Colin - The Lusitania, Little Brown
Pool, James - Who Financed Hitler: the Secret Funding... ,Pocket Books
Epperson, Ralph A. -The Unseen Hand
Sutton, Anthony C. - Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler, G S G & Associates Pub
Sutton, Anthony C. - The Federal Reserve Conspiracy, G S G & Associates Pub
Allen, Gary - The Rockefeller File, 76 Pr
Lundberg, Ferdinand - America's Sixty Families, Citidell Press
Mcfadden, Louis - On the Federal Reserve, Congressional Record 1934
Allen, Gary - The Bankers , Conspiratorial Origins of the Federal Reserve, American Opinion
Larson, Martin - The Federal Reserve
House, Edward Mandell -The Intimate Papers Of Colonel House, Kessinger Publishing
Sutton, Anthony C. - Wall Street and FDR, Arlington House
Russo, Aaron - America: Freedom To Fascism (film)
Iserbyt, Charlotte Thompson - The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, 3d Research Co
Stinnett, Robert - Day Of Deceit, Free Press
Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America, spp.gov
Jaikaran, Jacques S. - Debt Virus, Glenbridge Publishing
Griffin, G. Edward, The Creature from Jekyll Island, American Media
Grace Commision Report - 1984 - Reagan Admin

I've been studying a bit on the Federal Reserve, Personal Income Tax and issues surrounding 9/11 etc lately as a part of my regular forum debates, as well as my long standing study of Christianity and religion, but I found a lot of information that was new to me, and found many new correlations between that information etc.

While there is still some information in the latter parts of the movie that I'd question or would disagree with, for the most part the information is valid and compelling. Some of the things I would question would be the validity of the 16th Amendment, or the "squibs" on the WTC towers etc. Some of these things have been debunked or explained already, so I was a little disappointed to see them included, but overall I was impressed.

I think the fast pace of the delivery for such a large amount of information lended itself to a bit of cherry picking or taking things out of context etc, but I can somewhat forgive that, given the format of delivery.

I would love to see a much more expanded version of this documentary that could dwell more on the points. I would also love to see an in-depth critique of the film as a whole, addressing all the various claims etc.

With that said, check it out for yourselves! An impressive presentation!

Cogito!