Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward

agencies should be phased out, and their functions turned over to real insurance companies in the private sector. Banks should be required to keep 100% reserves for demand deposits, because that is a contractual obligation. All forms of time deposits should be presented to the public exactly as CE)s are today. In other words, the depositor should be fully informed that his 1. Since the v a l u e of F R N s w o u l d be f i r m l y established in t e r m s of real dollars, there w o u l d b e n o c o m p e l l i n g reason t o exchange t h e m , a n d i t i s possible that p e o p l e w o u l d c o n t i n u e t o use t h e m i n d a i l y commerce. Therefore, t o retire the F R N s a n d m a k e the t r a n s i t i o n as q u i c k l y as possible, it w o u l d be necessary to have the b a n k s a u t o m a t i c a l l y exchange t h e m for real d o l l a r s w h e n e v e r they are deposited.

I n s h o r t o r d e r , t h e y w o u l d become collectors' items a n d historical curiosities.

A REALISTIC SCENARIO

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money is invested and he will have to wait a specified time before he can have it back. Competition will insure that those institutions that best serve their customers' needs will prosper.

Those that do not will fall by the wayside—without the need of an army of bank regulators.

15. Reduce the size and scope of government. No solution to our economic problems is possible under socialism. It is the author's view that the government should be limited to the protection of life, liberty, and property—nothing more. That means the

elimination of almost all of the socialist-oriented programs that now infest the federal bureaucracy. If we hope to retain—or perhaps to regain—our freedom, they simply have to go. To that end, the federal government should sell all assets not directly related to its primary function of protection; it should privately sub-contract as many of its services as possible; and it should greatly reduce and simplify its taxes.

16. Restore national independence. A similar restraint must be applied at the international level. We must reverse all programs leading to disarmament and economic interdependence. The

most significant step in that direction will be to Get us out of the UN and the UN out cfthe US, but that will be just the beginning.

There are hundreds of treaties and administrative agreements that must be rescinded. There may be a few that are constructive and mutually beneficial to us and other nations, but the great majority of them will have to go. That is not because we are isolationist. It is simply because we want to avoid being engulfed in global tyranny.

Some will say that paying off the national debt with Federal Reserve Notes amounts to a repudiation of the debt. Not so.

Accepting the old Notes for payment of taxes is not repudiation.

Exchanging them for their appropriate share of the nation's gold or silver is not repudiation. Converting them straight across to a sound money with little or no loss of purchasing power is not repudiation. The only thing that would be repudiated is the old monetary system, but that was designed to be repudiated. The monetary and political scientists who created and sustained the Federal Reserve System never intended to repay the national debt.

It has been their ticket to profit and power. Inflation is repudiation on the installment plan. The present system is a political trick, an 578

THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND

accounting gimmick. We are merely acknowledging what it is. We are simply refusing to pretend we don't understand what they are doing to us. We are refusing to play the game any longer.

MEASURING THE SIZE OF THE HANGOVER

So those are the sixteen steps, but what are their effects? It should come as no surprise that there is a price to pay for a return to monetary sobriety. A hangover cannot be avoided, except by continuing the binge, which is the road to death. Let's take a look at what this binge has already cost us. We will measure that by calculating how much each Federal Reserve Note will be worth when the new money appears.