OPINION

Push the Fed Over the Cliff

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Stop worrying about the ‘fiscal cliff.’ Spending cuts would feel therapeutic after watching Standard & Poor's and Egan-Jones downgrade our credit rating and seeing President Obama add $6 trillion to the national debt. The way to avert another recession and massive inflation is to eliminate the unconstitutional Federal Reserve.

There are two ways for politicians to “pay” for their spending. They can be transparent and raise taxes extremely high across all income levels. (This is not happening because politicians know Americans would riot.) Or, they can be sneaky and “monetize the debt,” which means allowing the Federal Reserve to print money and inflate the currency.

As former Rep. Ron Paul points out in his book End the Fed, “…the Fed has one power that is unique to it alone: it enables the creation of money out of thin air. …through techniques such as open-market operations, changing reserve ratios, and manipulating interest rates, operations that all result in money creation.”

Think of our economy as ill with a superbug; the Federal Reserve is the cause of this virus and we must eliminate it before it wipes out America’s prosperity.

Peter Schiff, CEO and Chief Global Strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc. told CNBC this month: “Ben Bernanke is a much bigger threat to the U.S. economy than the fiscal cliff. In fact, if it wasn’t for his accommodation, all the QEs, we wouldn’t have to go over the fiscal cliff. In fact, ultimately because of what the Fed has done, we’re gonna have to go over a much bigger cliff, as part of the solution to solve the problems that the Fed helped create by allowing the government to get so big. But I think if we avoid this cliff—which is a mistake, we actually need a bigger cliff that has a lot more government spending cuts—but if we get a deal, which I think likely we will do because politicians want to pretend that they saved us from this phony crisis so they set us up for a bigger one… it means that trillion-dollar-plus deficits will perpetuate and these big deficits are what is undermining the dollar because the Fed has to print money to finance them… all the ‘fiscal cliff’ means is that we have to start paying for all this government… so if the politicians want to spare us from this fiscal cliff, then cut government spending so we don’t have to pay for it.”

Unconstitutional

Founders like Thomas Jefferson were concerned that central control over the money supply would lead to tyranny. This is why, early on, the Constitution explicitly banned paper money and only allowed gold and silver coinage.

The Federal Reserve itself is unconstitutional. Paul writes: ‘The Constitution is silent on the issue of a central bank, but for anyone who cares about its intent, the Tenth Amendment is quite clear. If a power is not “delegated to the United States by the Constitution,” it doesn’t exist. There is no mention whatsoever of a central bank being authorized. Even if a central bank were permissible, it could not legally repeal the legal tender mandate for gold and silver coins.”

Solution

Politicians try to keep big banks and businesspeople happy in the short-term by allowing the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates artificially low. The problem is that these low rates trick investors into taking titanic risks and making poor long-term investments.

Congress is not holding the Federal Reserve accountable. Politicians keep spending money to appease private interest groups and win votes. So, we must hold Congress accountable and demand that it eliminate the Federal Reserve. Our lifestyle is on the line; high inflation will make it impossible to enjoy life as we do now with simple pleasures like dinners out, high-tech toys and annual vacations.

Are you a small businessperson or an entrepreneur? Become a real-life John Galt. Publicly demand that Congress boot the Fed. There is no reason why you should shoulder the burden of government spending through higher payroll taxes and Obamacare.

Hold your head high. It is honorable, not greedy, to make a profit and employ people so that they can support themselves and their families via their own labor and live quality lives.

Are you a consumer? You also must speak up. You should not have to pay above-market prices for inferior products, services and healthcare. You deserve sound money and the freedom to buy the best quality that you can afford.

There is no need to stand up to the government alone. Form or join a group of like-minded citizens. For example, the Liberty Business Bureau is a non-profit organization that helps support consumers and businesses practicing free market principles—effectively America's first free market trade association.

We all need to pressure Congress to audit the Fed. Cosmic public outrage is apparently the motivation politicians need to eliminate this unconstitutional agency. If we unite now, we will save our currency and our freedom by pushing this monster over the cliff.