The Stock Market crash followed by worldwide “Depression” lasted from 1929 to about 1939. Prior to the “Depression” there were a few different forms of monetary notes, such as the National Bank, Gold or Silver Certificate and Federal Reserve. Ultimately, only the Federal Reserve Note would survive.

The Gold and Silver Certificates were best known and accepted. The paper certificates were backed by a real tangible, gold/silver standard. This standard guaranteed that the bearer of paper money could redeem it for gold and silver. It is believed the gold and silver that back up these paper certificates was kept in places like, “Fort Knox.”

Long before paper currency however, people traded coins to buy goods. Coins were said to contain 99.9 % gold or silver. I have coins in my collection that date back to the mid 1800’s. On these coins it say’s, “In God We Trust,” but this phrase never appeared on paper money until 1957. It took an Act of Congress in 1955 the make the phrase, “In God We Trust” a national motto requiring it be added to paper money. From this we can determine since silver and gold was struck into coins, the phrase “In God We Trust” has endured.

Today “In God We Trust” is threatened by well organized groups seeking every possible legal avenue to remove this phrase from the monetary system. Articles are out and about these past few months tell us “In God We Trust” will be hidden on some new coins. “In God We Trust” will be on the thin edge that circles the coin. It will not surprise me personally to see “In God We Trust” removed from every coin and dollar bill in the future. Added to this threat is a well known fact that the quality and backing of the monetary system has failed, which likely dates back to the Stock Market Crash and Depression. 

Since 1965 coins are made from materials that do not meet the true silver, gold standard. The paper certificates backed by reimbursement of gold and silver also faded into history. Knowing coins no longer have silver and gold in them and gold and silver certificates have no hard value anymore, what backs up the surviving Federal Reserve Note? You may be surprised to learn there is no backing. Truth be known, the Federal Reserve note has no more value than the paper it is printed on. One might ask here, “what’s happened to the gold/silver standard?”

We may recall a history lesson or two in regard to the gold and silver rushes during the days of the Wild West. Try to imagine all the gold and silver that has been paned, mined and sold throughout the ages. Even though gold and silver has a very long shelf life, it seems the greedy and wanting couldn’t leave gold and silver well enough alone. Most of the gold and silver reserves have been sold for commercial use or horded by select individuals. I also have some reason to believe gold and silver reserves may have financed “The New Deal” instituted by President Roosevelt. The New Deal was an attempt to ease famine and strife in the U.S. during the Depression. Whatever the cause one may choose to believe, the fact remains that modern day money has no backing from these precious medals because there is not enough gold and silver to back up a monetary note!

Today it often gets down to a matter of supply and demand. People want the finest jewelry and precious items and as such the monetary standard of gold and silver reserves continues to be sucked dry. In the past when gold and silver was at critical levels, the Federal Reserve had gold and silver drives. During such times many gave up their gold and silver coin collections and precious gifts when they were offered an outrageous amount of paper money in its place. People surely walked away during such drives saying things like, “WOW I had $300.00 in gold and silver coins and they gave me (as an example) $600.00 in paper money.” These people certainly smiled all the way to the bank thinking they had done well. The truth is they freely handed the Federal Reserve a powerful strong hand backed in hard precious assets while they themselves walked away with paper that has no real value standard. This clearly has been one of the greatest deceptions in the history of the world.

So who is the Federal Reserve and just how strong is their power? Many people who think themselves well informed would tell you the Federal Reserve in a private run company having nothing to do with the United States government. As far as power goes, the same people would tell you to watch the stock market and see the power of the Federal Reserve and ripple effects it has worldwide when it changes interest rates.

Some people reading this now may well say here, “It is ridiculous to think the Federal Reserve is a private company.” The question such people need ask themselves is why the U.S. government has trillions of dollars in National Debt?  How come the U.S. government pays millions of dollars in just interest to the Federal Reserve every single day? It is not reasonable to think that a sovereign government can be in debt to itself. The concept can not apply in the real sense.

During my travels, some years ago I also met a lady who worked for the Federal Reserve although at the time I met her she was retired. I brought up the topic that I heard the Federal Reserve was not part of the U.S. government. She confirmed this by saying what I heard was true.

During the time John F. Kennedy was running for president in the early 60’s, this county is said to have been free of debt. I’m not convinced through research that is exactly true but World War II certainly did generate a great deal of spoils of war from Germany. However we view it, the system was failing. Other reasons for it failure are events such as the “Cold War,” and the rush to be the first to land on the moon. Other events such as the “Cubin Missile Crisis,” and fear of nuclear attacks, lead the U.S. to stockpile arms and expand all aspects of military might and warfare. The U.S. government was spending as if money was going out of style. As I see the events above and other events not mentioned due to the size this article would generate, all lead to the downfall of the silver and gold certificates. I should again mention that greed and want for gold and silver items certainly played a key role as well, in the name of commercialism.

Tensions did not go away with Russia during the "Cold War" and other communistic countries and there were rising concerns over Middle Eastern countries as well. Thus, the U.S. spending increased. Government spending was out of control and no one was monitoring how money was being spent. Taxes were increased and at some point I personally believe the government tapped into the Social Security System as they scrambled to try and make the budget look balanced and or to buy more goods thinking they were protecting the country or enjoying the highlife spending money they had no right to take.  

Somewhere during all this our government in need of funds began to accept loans from the Federal Reserve. It is important here to know that the Federal Reserve has loans out to nearly every nation on the face of this earth. The bank you do business is insured as a Federal depositor and your bank lends you money which they in return borrow from the Federal Reserve. While counties were hurting and in need of goods, the Federal Reserve has been buying up the true gold/silver standard on which monies around the world were once based. The amazing part here is in return the Federal Reserve managed to offer paper that has no real basis of value. Many say this is indeed one of the greatest deceptions ever.  I have even heard some people say we have sold our souls to the devil and or some even say the beast. Whatever one may choose to call the Reserve, the fact remains that at any given time the Federal Reserve could easily take away the entire balance of the earth leading the way to unfolding Scriptures in The Book of Revelations. One thing I remain convinced of is that the Reserve is the greatest “Slight of Hand,” as I wrote about in the last chapter of Signs of the Times.

There are number of theories as to the roots of the Federal Reserve. It really is impossible to offer all these theories as the reader would find themselves reading the rest of their lives on this topic. In the last chapter of Signs of the Times, I said this month I would give greater detail about the history of what I feel is the best plausible theory of the roots of the Federal Reserve, however this article already as turned out to be far longer than I expected. So rather than give the readers too much information all at once, I will ease the roots of the Federal Reserve into next months article instead. To trace back the most plausible history of the Reserve it will take a few more chapter as the history I am headed for will predate Christ.

The reason I am presenting this information slowly is there is so much to absorb and take in all at once. When I went to school for web publishing years ago, one of the important rules I learned is that long article are avoided. Through the years I have proven this is true by paying attention to my website stats. Web stats tell me how many and what pages people are reading. Thus I will end here this month. So around January 19^th I will certainly open up eyes to the surviving Federal Reserve currency in our pockets as we take a close look at a dollar bill and its symbolism.

Below is an addition added after this article was completed this month. The addition is reverent clearly showing the U.S. government is burying the U.S. economy in a deep hole. The hole is so deep I do not see how we will ever climb out of it. A few days ago CNN reported that Bush was asking for an additional 28 billion to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am not exactly certain of the exact number but figures indicate appropriations for war in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003 total between 140 and 150 billion dollars. Meanwhile, the poor in the U.S. have all they can do to feed themselves and keep warm in the winter. Think about that for a second!

I’m sure we can all agree that a response of some sort was needed after 9-1-1. Radical groups who seek destruction must be dealt with. However, though Saddam was not the best man in the world, there still is no indication that he was a nuclear threat or involved in the support of terrorist acts against the United States.  The U.S. invaded Iraq claming Saddam supported terrorism and had nuclear capabilities but failed to produce proof. It seems to me that the U.S. unable to finalize the capture Osama Bin Laden, used "slight of hand" to refocus our attention in it's failure, by invading Iraq. The U.S. certainly viewed Iraq as an easy take considering the quick capture of Iraq during  the "Desert Storm War" January 1991. The U.S. did not vision terrorists would come to Iraq to fight the U.S. or the civil unrest between different ethnic group. This has already cost the U.S. the loss of more lives than was lost in the World Trade Center terrorist destruction. Invading Iraq did not focus on fighting terrorism and has cost us billions of dollars in the "slight of hand" game. Even so, from uncovered mass graves, we know Saddam was a brutal dictator killing millions of his own people. His attempts to rage havoc on Israel or invade countries such as Kuwait were insane acts. Justified or not, Saddam was tried and executed on December 30, 2006.

If there was any time at all that Saddam should have been removed from power it was when George Bush Sr. was president and Iraq invaded Kuwait. Radicals would not have had any position to attack the U.S. as the U.S. was protecting a Moslem country and protecting oil interests. Regardless of these facts, what is most important is some 150 billion dollars has been added to the National Debt just since 2003, in the name of war. There is no question the cost of the defense of war will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

During the “Cold War” with Russia, appropriations left Russia broke. The economy failed and the Berlin Wall came down during the administration of Ronald Reagan. The U.S. today is so deeply in debt to the Federal Reserve, we should not be surprised to see what I would call, “The Great Depression,” as the U.S. economy completely collapses becoming a third world nation. A new great nation will likely arise due to trade deficits.

Very few people are aware of the true meaning of trade deficit, even though it is a serious issue. One very good example is the deficit between goods sent to China and the goods China sends to us. The figures are alarming and China is making multi billions of dollars each year off the U.S. economy through major chains such as Wal-Mart. The U.S. is only making money from China from raw goods which in comparison amounts to pennies.

It amazes me that relations between China and the U.S. are not good at all, yet the U.S. is allowing China to become the leading world power by its only blind sightedness. U.S. companies can not compete in the consumer market and these companies are going belly up. Wal-Mart, (the leading retailer in the U.S.) gets as much as 80 to 90% of its good from China. Even U.S. companies that do business with Wal-Mart have been pressured to have their products made in China in order to meet the stiff prices Wal-Mart is insisting they receive.

Tupperware a leading U.S. company in plastic goods was forced to raise their prices to Wal-Mart due to increases in the cost of resins which go into making plastic items. Wal-Mart refused the increase telling Tupperware if they did not continue to give Wal-Mart the same price they would drop Tupperware and Wal-Mart did drop Tupperware products. This loss destroyed the Tupperware Company. Tupperware sold off their plastic injection molding machines at auction. Never guess who bought them? Would you believe, China!

Another Wal-Mart example are TV’s. As we know the widescreen TV have really taken off. One company who could not meet the prices Wal-Mart demanded refused to commission it product be made in China and they closed their doors. Another U.S. maker of TV’s recently went to court pointing out these ongoing problems coming out of China. The U.S. Company won the law suit and there will be a tax of sorts added to TV imports from China. Meanwhile to compete in the market, most name brand makers of TV’s are in fact having their product made in China. Hundred of thousands of jobs have been lost from the closed doors of U.S. Companies who just can not compete with China who has an extremely low pay scale. The U.S. Government is taxing companies beyond reason leaving U.S. companies no choice but to move their business outside the U.S.

Competitiveness in the consumer market is a good thing for the consumer but there is also a bigger picture here that the consumer does not see. Because the U.S. consumer is reaching so deep into their pockets to pay for taxes, war, U.S. deficits, oil, utilities, mortgages, rent, insurance and so on, the consumer is left with no choice but to make sure what they do buy is the most affordable. Wal-Mart has a monopoly on this. Thus, the ending result is the U.S. is truly becoming a third world country headed into levels of debt it could never pay. In return, China is quickly becoming the leading world country. As many consumers in the U.S. wonder how they are going to feed their families this month the above additions in this article this month certainly is food for thought.

This is a second addition added to this article prior to posting this chapter on Signs of the Times. It seems almost daily there is something noteworthy in current events that continue to prove my point of government waste and increase of the National Debt.

Early on the morning on June 17, 1972, police discovered five intruders inside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. It turned out the burglars were there to adjust bugging equipment they had installed during a May break-in and to photograph Democrats' documents. Following the evidence back to its origin, it was discovered President Nixon was in fact the driving force beyond the scandal.  This event became know as the Watergate Scandal. Today Watergate remains one of the top presidential scandals of modern time.

As we all know by now Jerold Rudolph Ford (38^th president of the United States) died at age 93 on December 26, 2006. Ford is the president that never should have been. He became president by default when Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate Scandal. One of the most controversial acts during the short administration of President Ford was to give Nixon a full pardon for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Ford's decision to offer a pardon cost him when he ran for reelection but often said he never regretted his decision. Nixon died in 1994 at age 81.

There a numerous laws and acts of the Constitution of the Bill of Rights that were violated by Nixon and his spy team. Yet even so, Nixon was given a full pardon. This reminds me of a story I heard this summer on Headline News of an elderly lady who had never been in trouble her entire life but attempted to rob a bank. Strangely enough the woman had no weapon during her attempt and was quickly caught by police while she was still in the bank. The woman did this act because she was on a small fixed income, namely Social Security, and she had no way to pay for a medication that was prescribed by her doctor. It is unclear but it is likely her yearly allotted medication amount exceeded what SSI will pay and thus this woman had no way to get the medication that helped to keep her alive. I can’t tell the reader what became of this lady as the story was squashed as quickly as it was reported. It disappeared from all media sources within 24 hours, including online. A bank robbery is a Federal offense and if due process followed procedure it is likely this elderly lady may well have been put in prison.

What we need to do here is to compare the two incidents. Here we have a poor elderly person who is told “Sorry you exceeded your limits of funds for medications therefore you will have to go without, and if you die, oh well that’s how it goes.” Yet on the other hand, Nixon was a rich U.S. president and he was allowed to violate the founding principles of this country. His reward for breaking the law was a pardon from President Ford. This is "Slight of Hand" and "Magic" as discussed in previous chapters. This shows me there are different standards for the poor and the rich. The rich who are in power in this country see to it that their own are allowed too live above the law. The poor are not allowed the same fate.

President Clinton received sexual favors from Monica as we all know. Yet with a bold serious face he told the American people, “I did not have sex with that woman……” It seems President Clinton does not believe oral favors are of a sexual nature. Though some investigation was done here, in the end the matter disappeared just like "magic." Today Clinton makes millions as a motivation speaker. Again what we have to understand here is there is a double standard. The rich can do wrong and if they are rich and powerful, they are exempt from justice.

I certainly am not unpatriotic but I do believe we need call a spade a spade. President Bush announced on Tuesday January 2, 2007 will be a national day of mourning in honor of President Ford, who’s greatest act during his administration was to give a pardon to Nixon who illegally wire taped the Democratic National Committee. The elderly lady who tried to get the medication she needed, will likely get her day in jail.

Bush's "day of mourning" means governmental workers will receive a day off from work, yet they will not go without pay. I can’t even begin to estimate the amount of money that will be paid to government workers in honor of a president who gave freedom to another president who broke the laws of everything this country is suppose to stand for. There are several points to this second addition but the one that mostly applies in this Chapter is the added expense to the National Debt so we can honor President Ford for having given a crook a pardon.

The basic foundation of Socialism and Communism is the fact the rich feared the gain the poor were making. They feared the poor would rise above their level leaving no one left to do the simple jobs that needed to be done.  The basic principle of Socialism/Communism was the rich and poor were of a class within itself and no individual could rise above their class. This is oppression.

In the United State we have a democratic society and one who is poor can make good, become wealthy and powerful. However the taxes and expenses of every day living for the average worker, keeps them in their class. The jobs Americans do not want to do or can't afford to do, those from countries such a Brazil and Mexico are willing to come to the U.S. to do. Yet immigration laws, which is a hot topic these days is putting extreme pressure on the industry in the U.S. leaving these industries unable to find workers. Untold millions of dollars are being lost in taxes, due to immigration laws. All this does is increase the National Debt.

When industry fails or struggles, National Gross product prices increase, adding an expensive burden to our economy which is already stretched beyond limit. In this, immigration laws keep the very poor in other countries. Their lot is a reduced life span due to poverty. In the U.S. due to price increases of product because we do not have the needed immigrants to do the jobs, we are also kept within a poorer class. This may not apply to the principles of Socialism and Communism but it still is oppression.

I personally view this chapter and the state of the U.S. much like that of a rubber band. We can only stretch a rubber band so far before the band will break. As the National Debt is overwhelmed and no solution exists, we are the rubber band near the breaking point.

Chapter 1  Chapter 2  Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7  Chapter 8 Chapter 9

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