March 29, 2007
March 19, 2007
The Federal Reserve System
The dollar today is worth only three cents compared to the dollar in 1913, when the Federal Reserve started.
For almost all of America's first 120 years, there was no federal income tax — and few people complained that the government didn't have enough revenue.
For those same 120 years, there was no Federal Reserve System — and the federal government printed no paper money (except for Lincoln's Civil War "Greenbacks"). Consumer prices gradually dropped by a third between 1800 and 1913 — and banking crises were occasional and mild. But with the Federal Reserve in charge, prices rose 1,800% by 2000 and the country suffered its worst-ever banking crisis in 1933.
For almost all of America's first 120 years, there was no federal income tax — and few people complained that the government didn't have enough revenue.
For those same 120 years, there was no Federal Reserve System — and the federal government printed no paper money (except for Lincoln's Civil War "Greenbacks"). Consumer prices gradually dropped by a third between 1800 and 1913 — and banking crises were occasional and mild. But with the Federal Reserve in charge, prices rose 1,800% by 2000 and the country suffered its worst-ever banking crisis in 1933.
