This hearing, entitled "Fractional Reserve Banking and the Federal Reserve: The Economic Consequences of High-Powered Money," will be held on Thursday, June 28, at 2:00 p.m. in room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Witnesses scheduled to testify:
Dr. John Cochran, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Emeritus Dean, School of Business, Metropolitan State College of Denver Dr. Joseph Salerno, Professor of Economics, Lubin School of Business, Pace University Dr. Lawrence H. White, Professors of Economics, George Mason University
"Fractional reserve banking underpins the entire banking system, yet its effects on society are completely ignored. Our financial system consists of vast amounts of credit pyramided on top of very small amounts of real savings-- all backstopped by explicit and implicit government guarantees. This poses significant risks to the stability of the economy and monetary system, which ought to give pause to any serious observer of financial markets. Hopefully this hearing will create a greater understanding among the American people about the nature of the banking system, and begin the movement towards serious systematic reform. The American people deserve a financial system that is stable and efficient; one that operates without taxpayer subsidies and bailouts."
- Congressman Ron Paul
Inflation is a political evil. In the United States it is perpetrated by the officials of the Federal Reserve System in cooperation with agents of the U.S Treasury.
It is difficult to fathom anything more ominous in monetary matters than a political money monopoly. It permits the government authorities to inflate and depreciate the people´s money and to force everyone to accept its money at face value. Debtors need not pay thrir debts in full but can discharge them by giving inferior money in exchange, thereby defrauding the creditors. Legal tender legislation, which forces everyone to accept the monopoly money in settlement of all debt, public and private permits government to asses the people without having to seek their consent first, and enables it to live beyond its means and never repay its debt. It is a device of expropriation.
Inflation is Theft
