[Beasty]

Did you know that the US national debt will never be payed off? Seriously, it's not even mathematically possible.

The USD (US dollar) is not a redeemable currency. That means you can't go to the government and exchange in for, say, gold. When a currency is backed by an amount of gold, that is called the gold standard; the US dollar is a fiat currency, which means the government has a more direct control on how much it's worth- or in the US's case, the federal reserve. The Federal Reserve, or "the Fed", is not a government agency- in fact, it's board is comprised of several large banks' suits. It is the sole arbiter of the USD; when the government needs money, it borrows it from the federal reserve in exchange for U.S. treasury bonds. And there's interest on that borrowing. A lot of interest. In case you're a little slow, that means that the United States will always owe more money than it has in circulation, so even if all of the US dollars in the entire world were to be rounded up and given back to the Federal Reserve- not only would it freeze the US economy, but it wouldn't even pay off the debt. From the day the first US dollar was borrowed under this system, every American was now enslaved to the banks supporting the Federal Reserve.

But you see, that just isn't enough. Because the second half of this is even worse. Every time you deposit any amount of money into a bank, you are helping to inflate the US economy. Banks are not required to hold your money in their vaults for you to grab when you need it. Well, to be more specific, they're only required to retain 10% of your deposit. This is called fractional reserve banking. It is exactly what the name implies- they are only required to hold a fraction of your deposit in their reserve. 90% of your money can immediately be turned around and given out in the forms of withdrawals and loans. This is extremely bad for one reason- banks are essentially creating money out of thin air. When they loan out the 90% of your money, that money then can get deposited back into banks, where it will be fractioned and loaned again. Every time it goes through this cycle, your original deposit multiplies. A $100 deposit can be turned into about $1000 with this system. But that $1000 only exists on paper- when it comes to the actual paper money, there still is only $100 dollars. And that means that the majority of "usd" out there in the world actually doesn't exist, and as such it can't be used to pay back the loans borrowed to create the money in the first place.

What all of this means is that from the moment it began, all Americans are in debt. But it doesn't stop there. This system is not exclusive to America- a large portion of the world does the same thing. The only way to escape this debt is for everyone to collectively refuse to pay it.

[Rebel]

America... GUNS!!... ??!?! 1!!11!1!1

[Donut]

I support the silver standard... naw fuck it bimetal was better.

[SmG Battlefire]

Who will even make us pay the debt anyway? We're 'muericans.

[Beasty]

I support the silver standard... naw fuck it bimetal was better.

Here is the problem with currency that is backed by any resource- that resource and the money it is based on are independent commodities. What that means is that the resource can be manipulated in order to crash a currency, and the countries' economy as a result.

Take for instance China. The English empire required resources from china. Since China contended it had the means to manufacture all it needed by itself, they argued that they had more leverage and as such did not want to trade in British currency, but only in the gold that it backed. The English ended up depleting their own gold reserves and the value of the British currency took a dramatic plumet. In order to get back their own gold to replenish their currencies value, they smuggled opium into china and used that resource to spread addiction before pulling out gold in exchange little by little.

The global problem in all of this is currency itself. Currency is a medium of exchange only in the sense that all parties agree that it has worth. But currency itself is inherently only worth the paper it's printed on- as such, it's an unnecessary middleman in economic exchange. The problem is money itself. It needs to be eliminated.

[Beasty]

Who will even make us pay the debt anyway? We're 'muericans.

The large majority if US debt is domestic, meaning the US governments debt is owed more to banks and investment firms who purchase treasury bonds then it is with other countries like China. Way, way more.

This is a blessing and a curse. Because we owe an ungodly amount of money to the very people making the money, they effectively hold our economy hostage. The good news is, in the inevitable revolution, when we repudiate the former United States' national debt, we won't really be picking a fight with other countries.

[Donut]

So you want barter then?

I thought you were against the "rules of the jungle"

[Beasty]

America... GUNS!!... ??!?! 1!!11!1!1

The Canadian Dollar is a fiat currency as well, numbnuts.

Your currency is going to crash in time as well because the only thing that keeps your currency, like many global currencies, afloat is the US dollar. Trust me, when the USD collapses you'll feel it to, so I'd be a bit more concerned about it if I were you.

[Beasty]

So you want barter then?

I thought you were against the "rules of the jungle"

Who said I want barter? Who said I even want individual actors in an economic system.

I want a centrally planned, resource based economy. The idea of individual actors in an economy is utterly stupid, because it inherently means a market exists. Markets are terrible ideas because they do not consider proper allocation of resources, only where it seems likely things will go for a variety of reasons. Free markets, touted by libertarians and anarchists alike, are the worst offenders. The idea that without the price mechanism you won't know where to allocate resources is the biggest lie ever told, and I can't believe there are people stupid enough to believe such a ridiculous notion.

What we need is an economic manifestation of societal desire for the proper management of resources- much of the time this comes in the form of a Marxist state, because humans at the moment are not capable of the hypothetical synchronous movement required in a stateless resource economy.

[Donald J Trump]

Hey beasty there is this place called /pol/ they miss you.