The Government is a COUNTERFEITING Thief!!

Government-defined and controlled money, particularly fiat currency, constitutes a "slick form of theft" that leads to economic impoverishment and an arbitrary redistribution of wealth, benefiting some at the expense of others.

The fundamental premise underlying current monetary and fiscal policy is the "unchallenged assumption that money should be defined and controlled by government." This is presented as a destructive myth.

Historically, money was a "most marketable commodity," as described by Ludwig von Mises. The "Nixon Shock of 1971," which severed the dollar's connection to any commodity, transformed money into a "pure fiat."

Fiat Money as a Form of Counterfeiting and Theft:

Increases in the fiat money supply amount to "an exchange of nothing for something, a slick form of theft." Unlike commodity-backed money, fiat money creation "sets economic impoverishment in motion."

The government and the Federal Reserve, through fractional-reserve lending and creating money "out of thin air," are engaged in a "counterfeiting racket" that does not represent goods or services produced.

This process devalues existing money, effectively taxing its holders to pay for the "counterfeiter's purchases."

Richard Cantillon's observation (c. 1730) is highlighted: "newly created money enters the economy unevenly, benefiting some groups at the expense of others."

Murray Rothbard is quoted, emphasizing the insidious nature of inflation: "Counterfeiting is evidently but another name for inflation — both creating new 'money' that is not standard gold or silver, and both functioning similarly. And now we see why governments are inherently inflationary: because inflation is a powerful and subtle means for government acquisition of the public’s resources, a painless and all the more dangerous form of taxation." (Emphasis added by Smith)

John Maynard Keynes, ironically, is cited for his clarity on this point: "Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalist System was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and, while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some."

The widening gap between rich and poor is not due to "capitalism" but to this government-supported monetary system that "enriches designated counterfeiters and their beneficiaries at the expense of other dollar holders."

Milton Friedman is quoted on the simplicity of commodity money: "If a domestic money consists of a commodity, a pure gold standard or cowrie bead standard, the principles of monetary policy are very simple. There aren’t any. The commodity money takes care of itself."

In contrast, modern monetary policy is characterized as "varying degrees of counterfeiting, involving arcane meetings held in billion-dollar buildings."