by: Jim Carter
The headlines screamed that we needed to increase the National Debt to prevent an economic collapse. Wait a minute. Is that the whole story?
Much is said of how the increase of the National Debt ceiling is inflationary, and it surely is. But the gain by the United States government is only temporary. The real profit goes to the Federal Reserve and Wall Street but that profit is hidden from Congress and the public.
There are two conceivable ways the National Debt can be financed. The manner projected in the mass media and by government is that the government borrows from the public. If this was the entirety of borrowing, there would be no inflation. The Fed could handle the transactions as a broker and receive commissions. The money transfer is the same as the payment of taxes but the government would promise to pay interest on the funds. Inflation by this method of financing is not possible.
The second method is to “borrow” from the Federal Reserve. This involves giving a Treasury security to the Fed as collateral and the Fed will credit an account of the government in the amount of the security. The government then spends the funds so created. This puts the book-entry money into circulation while the Fed (theoretically) holds the collateral. Voila !! Additional (fiat) money has been injected into the economy of the Nation.
Observe that the Fed holds the collateral. When the collateral matures, government must pay the Fed to redeem the security. The fiat money spent by government must be re-acquired and paid to the Fed. But how can the government collect the necessary money?
There are only two ways for government to acquire funds. One is by “taxes, duties, and imposts” and the other is by “printing press” money. The current printing press money is by issuing government securities (as detailed above) and tends to cause less public outrage than raising taxes. So to redeem the maturing security held by the Fed, the government gives the Fed a new security (a roll-over). The Fed can sell the security and has the profit.
In actual practice, the Fed can sell the initial security and obtain their money much quicker. The two steps are merged into one. The selling is done by auctions assisted by the Treasury. All bookkeeping and handling of funds is done by the FRBNY.
Last year $8.4 trillion was handled by the FRBNY from the auctions.. There is NO information available as to how it was dispersed. It is not included in the ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS nor is it available in any government record.
The average tenure of a security is approximately one year and each roll-over incurs lucrative commission and brokerage fees. Wall Street “takes the money to the bank.”
Every dollar of inflation is profit for the Fed yet it does not show up on any Income statement or Balance sheet of the Fed. Profit of the Fed has been identified as belonging to the government. Concealment of funds belonging to the government by accounting records is identified as embezzlement and subject to one year incarceration per count. Ref. 18 USC section 641. Concealment of monies belonging to the government is a separate crime and subject to five years incarceration per count. Ref. 18 USC section 1001. Anyone knowing of such an offense who “relieves, comforts or assists the offender…to prevent his apprehension, trial or punishment, is an accessory after the fact.” Ref. 18 USC section 3.
Do your congressional members know of the Fed’s concealment of profit ? Perhaps you would want to ask them and to inform them of their involvement.
Ref: RIP OFF BY THE FEDERAL RESERVE,
http://www.freepatriot-press.com/2011/06/rip-off-by-federal-reserve.html