1913: A Masterstroke Against Liberty

Today, it is generally understood that we have a Federal Reserve bank which creates much of the money our society uses.  It is also commonly known that we pay taxes to the IRS, mostly through direct wage garnishment and sometimes through a lump sum in April of each year.  A third tidbit of commonly accepted fact is that our money steadily loses a little bit of its value every year through inflation, and prices (and sometimes wages) rise to accommodate.  These things seem as normal to us as breathing, so most of us never stop to ask "Why?"  What if you found out that none of this is "normal?"  What if you learned the truth about the Federal Reserve, the income tax, and the abuses the dollar has seen?  What if you discovered that our money has been purposefully perverted to keep you always struggling to keep food on the table?  Would it stir you to action?  Lets find out.

It all started in 1913.  Up until that time, it was the Constitutionally enumerated power of our Congress "to coin money and regulate the value thereof" (US Constitution, Article I, Section VIII, Clause V).  Actually, since this was never amended, it is technically still the duty of Congress to do this, but they do not.  If I had to give one short opinion as to why that is, I would say "money."  Virtually everybody has a price tag, and the ones who control the money can always offer it.  Also up until that time, the American people did not have to pay a direct tax to the government.  Enough taxes were collected on import tariffs alone to fund the entire Federal government in their limited societal role.  But in 1913, everything was quietly changed.

There is nothing "federal" about the "Federal Reserve."

Despite what the name suggests, the Federal Reserve Bank is not a part of the Federal government.  They are a privately owned corporation who provides no open access to a full list of stakeholders.  The Federal Reserve Act was passed on December 23rd, 1913.  That's right: This history-changing piece of legislation was brought to a vote just before Christmas Eve, when 27 senators did not even get a vote because they were already home with their families.  It passed 43-25.  Because America abandoned the gold-backed standard to fund the Civil War in 1862, a private institution now has the limitless power to create new "Federal Reserve Notes" out of thin air.

The Income Tax is a lie.

If you were to ask an IRS official, they would tell you the IRS and income tax were authorized by the Sixteenth Amendment, which was enacted into law in February of 1913.  This amendment allowed the government to get around the part of the constitution that said "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states..." (US Constitution, Article I, Section II, Clause III).  Apportioned means that everyone pays the exact same tax, which is not how the income tax works.  There are a few things they don't want you to know:

• The Sixteenth Amendment was never properly ratified by the States
• There is not a law in existence that requires you or I to pay a direct tax on our wages to the government; no IRS official will be able to produce one for you, but they will point to the Internal Revenue Code.  However, the very text of the code states that the tax is collected through "voluntary compliance"
• Even if the Sixteenth Amendment had been properly ratified, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Amendment "...conferred no new power of taxation" (Stanton v. Baltic Mining, 1916): In other words, if you weren't taxable before the Sixteenth, you aren't taxable after it
• The definition of "Income," was given by several Supreme Court cases to mean profits or gains, not the exchange of labor for wages (Oliver v. Halstead - 1955, Lucas v. Earl - 1930, Conner v. U.S. - 1969, Edwards v. Keith - 1916, Lauderdale Cemetary Assoc v. Matthews - 1946).  For example, if you bought a stock at $20 and sold it later for $50, your taxable income would be $30
• Requiring you to file your income tax returns violates your Fifth Amendment Right not to incriminate yourself: If you make even one mistake on that form, you can be severely punished

In short: The IRS has been illegally enforcing an unconstitutional tax from the get-go.  The only reason people pay  this tax and don't ask questions is because if they don't, there's a risk of the IRS showing up at your door with a squad of heavily armed soldiers and attack dogs, then taking everything you have.  This is tyranny at its worst.  As if this wasn't bad enough, there was an independent audit launched on the IRS formally known as The Grace Commission.  The final result?  "...100 percent of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the federal debt and by federal government contributions to transfer payments. In other words, all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services [that] taxpayers expect from their government."  This audit was performed in 1982, and not one of the recommendations that came out of it was acted on.

This has not gone unnoticed.  More and more court cases are being won by people who stand up for their rights.  If you ever find yourself sitting on a jury in a tax case, keep these things in mind while the judge is trying to get you to break out your pitchfork and torch.
 
Inflation: The hidden tax.

In its original form, the Federal Reserve had power to do little more than was already done by the free market system of money (let the demand for new dollars be met with a supply by decentralized banks).  This is because the original Federal Reserve Act placed strict limits on the amount of United States Treasury bonds it could buy: No more than $25 million per year.  In 1994, this limit was declared obsolete and has not been adhered to since.  Mind you, the Federal Reserve Act was never officially amended to correct this; the limit is simply ignored, much like the ever-moving "debt ceiling."  Today, the Federal Reserve is printing $85 billion per month and using it to purchase Treasury bonds.  This runaway printing of money has had disastrous consequences on the purchasing power of the dollar.  For every new dollar that is injected into the economy, the dollars you already have become just a little bit less valuable.  The Fed has a target rate of 2% inflation.  For some reason, Ben Bernanke deems anything less as bad for the economy.

This inflation effectively steals money from you.  In fact, inflation has stolen so much of our money that if you had $100 in 1913, today you would have only $4.  Why anybody thinks this is a good thing is beyond my comprehension, especially considering wages rarely rise to compensate for this theft.

The solution to cure this sick money is very simple, yet it will probably not be acted on: We need to return to a gold and silver-backed currency.  Until we do, all we hold in our accounts are little pieces of paper that only hold value because someone with power says they do.  Of course, you can also always opt out of the fiat money system by bartering with people to get the things you need.  This can be difficult, but not impossible if you know the right people.

Unfortunately, the damage our money has suffered cannot be overstated.  It requires its own article.

"Wake up, you idiots! Whatever made you think paper was so valuable?" -Kurt Vonnegut