The RIEGEL: A New Word Monetary Unit

 

Christopher M. Quigley B.Sc., M.A., QFA

 


MORALS MATTER. The financial crisis currently unfolding in America and Western Europe will eventually morph into a social and political crisis unless the Federal Reserve's option of endlessly inflating the dollar is re-evaluated and stopped. The powers that be must realise that their monetary policy is regressive and socially flawed.

The systematic destruction of the buying power of the green back through fiat fantasy is preventing businessmen and entrepreneurs from obtaining real information concerning the needs and wants of the real economy. A proper functioning money unit is the antennae of true demand and supply and because of government interference false impulses are being generated throughout the economy and as a result incorrect economic decisions are being made; ergo the "sub-prime" and real-estate crises.

Inflation as we know does not destroy wealth it merely redistributes it from the lender to the borrower. However in the process it damages the purchasing power of regular folk and retirees who cannot keep up with the increasing momentum of the money supply. It wipes away the savings of the most vulnerable and shifts their hard won assets into the hands of the more economically astute. This state of affairs is wrong and immoral.

Of course the inflation game cannot continue indefinitely and those in the know realise that periodically there must be a day of reckoning. On cue, the music will be stopped and the band brought before congressional committees. The trick for the initiated is to ensure that their "chair" is sound and fully funded. Securely seated, these elites watch detached as the less fortunate majority flounder on the rocks on limited credit and decreased cash momentum. This "correction" turns out to be most beneficial for those who are cash rich because the subsequent write-downs increase the buying power of those holding monetary instruments. When this privileged group has swooped up bankrupt assets, for cents on the dollar, the inflation momentum recommences, increasing the value of the hard assets bought during the recession/depression. Thus it is a great game if you know how to play. But the price ultimately is the very survival of the society it is feeding off.

Anybody who thinks the on-going banking crisis was not planned is not fully aware of the facts. The American, European, Asian and Commonwealth banking systems, through the Basel 1 agreement of the early 1990's, paved the way for "collateralized off-balance-sheet accounting". Seasoned bankers and their close associates would have known the implications of this revolution in regulatory bookkeeping. They would have foreseen that this free for all was going to greatly increase the momentum of lending and accordingly hard assets were set to inflate in price. The fact that appraisal and ratings agencies joined in the party just goes to show the dept and extent of the fraud. Needless to say advantages were taken. Early starters gained. Late entrants and the general public are being decimated and the process has only begun.

When an elite bureaucracy controls the monetary unit of a nation, it is not a real money unit but a political money unit. Through insider access and deficit financing, phoney money is being mixed with real money (i.e. real money issued by real people and active businesses that carry on real enterprise providing real value). Political money issued by elites who provide no value is destroying the daily lives, hopes and dreams of the majority of people who live in the United States.

But a change is occurring. People are becoming educated and aware about issues they were formerly ignorant of. The catalyst is the internet. This technological marvel is to contemporary consciousness what the block printing press was to the enlightenment. Now anybody who wishes to learn about anything can do so, all that is required is the desire and the motivation. As we speak the greatest revolution in education is occurring. Old institutions of learning are being rendered obsolete. Television, magazines, books, newspapers and broadcast radio are dying, soon to be dead, as mediums of profit. Through the mass detailed information now freely available deep research is possible to all. As a result more and more groups are connecting the dots and the result is an epiphany and a revelation concerning the financial manipulation and fraud that surrounds them. The generation of the 80's achieved "awareness" through drugs and music. The present generation is growing in consciousness due to information and knowledge. The Emperor is been seen to have no clothes.

History shows that the best form of attack emanates from a strong defence. More and more folk are defending themselves from the excesses of the financial game by refusing to play. By limiting their need for consumption they are increasing their freedom and their ability to act. A movement is awakening from the slumbers of complacent ignorance. Through community self-inter-reliance, groups are discovering the power of co-operation rather than competition. In this zeitgeist peace and morals do matter. Family, community and country do matter. The environment and nature do matter. Within this orientation the current financial game is seen as a rigged corrupt veneer fronting a privileged group whose mindset is based on a command economic philosophy. Its language is in the modalities of freedom but its actions indicate an immoral and ruthless selfishness. As long as these forces control the monetary unit of America the exploitation of the many by the few will continue. Without monetary freedom all other freedoms are a mime. A moral monetary unit will only come about when money can only be issued upon the creation of real value. Fiat inflation must stop. It is time Americans had a moral currency again. This goal demands the end of the Federal Reserve political money system and the beginning of a new world currency unit, issued by free net-working communities. Many say this new money unit should be called the RIEGEL after E.C. Riegel who died in poverty, in a cold water flat, in New York City. He believed in "civitas" (the common good) and accordingly devoted his entire life educating America towards this most noble human goal.

"It has been said that a communist is a socialist in a hurry and that a fascist is a socialist dragging his feet.  They all face in the same direction. All groups whether they are called radical or conservatives, progressive or reactionaries have TURNED THEIR BACKS ON PERSONAL ENTERPRISE, and their faces directly or obliquely toward State dictatorship. All advocate state intervention in some form or other...................

As for the robbed, there is complete bewilderment as to the cause of their loss. The trouble has arisen from the failure of personal enterprisers to provide a sound monetary system of, by, and for personal enterprise. In their default the state has contrived a socialized system. It must be realized that a socialized monetary system must CREATE GENERAL SOCIALISM..............

Since money by is but the mathematics of value, there is no more justification for the nations of the World to have separate monetary systems than separate systems of mathematics."

Source:
E.C.Riegel "Flight From Inflation"
www.reinventingmoney.com