Sexual misconduct the result of White male power and privilege

It's time to get real serious and honest about sexual assault. Ever since Rose McGowan accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse or rape, almost everyday since that time there seems to be one story after another about some notable male person being charged with sexual misconduct; from Roger Ailes to judge Roy Moore of Alabama, former president George H.W. Bush, Comedian C.K. Louis, Minnesota Senator Al Franken, and the latest, co-anchor Charlie Rose of CBS This Morning and Director Oliver Stone. The fact is, this behavior should not surprise many American because it is nothing new. Hollywood is certainly not H-o-l-y-wood, and who can forget all the salacious sexual content during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearing before the all-male Senate Judiciary Committee to become the next Supreme Court Justice. White men forcibly raped their Black female slaves with impunity and does not the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence attest that . . .ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL? This was no accident but intentional and women were not given the right to vote ("suffrage") until 1920, half a century after freed slaves were allowed to exercise the franchise.

When former president Bill Clinton appeared on the Oprah show and she asked him about why he had sex with Monica Lewinsky. At first he paused, and then after pondering for a few moments, said quite frankly, "I did it because I could." This is the crux or focal point of White male power that translates into privilege because for the most simple of reasons, you do it because you can. Think about it for a minute, who controls all the institutions of power in America? If any woman is in a position of power in this country, a more powerful man, whether a husband, father, or a group of White men exercise control over all important economic, religious, legal, military, political or other decision-making systems that control the allocation of resources and the valuation of such in society. While due to the current situation and all the attention a few individuals have been publicly exposed and shamed, it is reasonable that a few of them will receive some kind of legal sanction or punishment, but it won't really change anything from a macro level because women are not valued the same as White men; earning roughly $0.72 to each dollar that a male is paid for the same type of work. Like any scandal, this too will blow over and people will eventually forget about it when the next mass shooting or terrorist attack happens, and the major news networks bombards the airwaves as well as social media with unrelenting, repetitive and  continuous round the clock coverage.

Robert Randle

776 Commerce St Apt 701

Tacoma, WA 98402

November 21, 2017

robertrandle51@yahoo.com

The Federal Reserve and money creation

It must be realized that while money may represent an asset when considered as an aggregate of the total money supply, it is not that at all. A man who borrows $1,000 may think he has increased his financial position by that amount, but he has not. That $1,000 asset is offset by a loan liability of the same amount; thus his “net” cash position is zero. So, if you were to add up all the bank deposits in the nation the ‘net’ balance would be zero because every bit of this money is owed by somebody. Someone has to borrow every dollar that is in circulation, whether it is cash or credit; otherwise we all starve. Also, no matter where you work or earn money, it’s “origin” was a bank and its ultimate “destination” is to be deposited into a bank. Now, let’s see how money is created. The Federal Reserve purchases government bonds from the U.S. Treasury (not bought by the public) by writing a check to Congress in exchange for them (there is no money deposited anywhere to back up this check). By calling these bonds “Reserve Notes” the Federal Reserve uses them as a base for “creating” nine additional dollars for every dollar created on top of the bonds themselves. Some of the money is spent by the government while the rest is used as the source for bank loans made to businesses and individuals. Incidentally, the Federal Reserve charges and collects ‘interest’ payments on money it creates out of nothing. The benefit to Congress is that it now has access to unlimited funding without having to tell the public that they are paying a “tax” on this ‘fiat’ currency through the loss of purchasing power called “inflation.”

The U.S. Treasury printing press adds ink to pieces of paper (commercial paper??) and creates impressive designs around the edges, and calls this creation a Treasury Note/Bond. This is merely a government IOU or promise to pay a specified sum and accrued interest at some definite time in the future. In reality, the government has created cash (technically), but it doesn’t look like or have the function of currency/cash as of yet. This Bond/Note is purchased by the Federal Reserve where it is now considered an “asset” because it is backed by the government (“full faith and credit”) as good to pay the money back because of its taxing authority. The Federal Reserve can use this asset to offset any “liability” that it incurs in making loans to the banks. Now the Federal Reserve “creates” this liability by adding ink to yet another piece of paper and exchanging it with the government (U.S. Treasury). This second piece of paper becomes a Federal Reserve Check (although there is no money in any account to cover this check). This Check is received back at the U.S. Treasury department where it is endorsed (“legal tender”) and sent back to one of the Federal Reserve branch banks and deposited into the government’s account; where it pays government expenses. After that, it is transformed into many checks, becoming the ‘first wave’ of fiat money flooding into the economy (“money supply”).

Recipients of these checks deposit them into their own bank accounts where they become commercial bank deposits. Federal Reserve guidelines stipulate that these deposits are classified as “fractional reserves” because banks are permitted to hold as little as 10% in ‘reserve,’ while the remainder are called “excess reserves.” This makes these monies available to be converted into bank loans. Since it would be illegal to have a double-claim on the same money (customers’ deposits and borrower’s loans) the Federal Reserve merely creates money out of thin air for the purpose of backing the ‘excess reserve’ loan amounts. When this “second wave” of fiat money moves into the general economy, it comes right back into the banking system. What was a” loan” on Friday comes back as a “deposit” on Monday. This deposit is again reclassified as a “reserve” and ninety percent becomes “excess” and the process keeps repeating itself all over again. Now are you getting the picture? It takes about twenty-eight times of passing through the revolving door of deposits becoming loans before it finally maxes out. The amount of fiat money created by the Federal Reserve is approximately nine times the amount of the “original” government debt which made the entire process possible.

When banks run short on money the Federal Reserve stands ready as “the lender of last resort” to make loans available to them. Banks usually hold “reserves” of about 1-2% of deposits in vault cash and 8-9% in securities; so their operating margin is extremely thin. It is not uncommon for a bank to experience a temporary negative balance, caused by unusually high customer/depositor cash demand, or on large clusters of checks clearing through other banks at the same time. When a bank borrows a dollar from the Federal Reserve it becomes a one-dollar reserve. Since banks are required to keep reserves of only about ten percent, it means they can actually lend up to nine dollars for each dollar they borrow from the Federal Reserve. This is certainly a profit incentive for the bank, and it goes something like this: Some bank borrows one million dollars from the Federal Reserve and is charged an annual interest rate of 8%, so the total amount it has to pay on this loan is $80,000 ($1,000,000 x 0.08 = $80,000). The bank treats this loan as a cash deposit where it will be used as a basis for manufacturing an additional nine million dollars to be loaned out to borrowers. Let’s say the bank charges 11% annual interest on $9,000,000 in loans; that would amount to a whopping $990,000 ($9,000,000 x 0.11 = $990,000). But don’t forget that the additional income generated from this loan amount now becomes part of the overall money supply of the nation.

Here is a sober lesson for those advocates who want to pay off the national debt. Since our money supply, at the present time at least, is tied to the national debt, paying off the debt would cause money to disappear; consequently we would starve to death because how would we pay for anything? Even to seriously reduce it would cripple the economy. The Federal Reserve holds about 7% of the national debt, and since the money supply is pyramided roughly ten times (on top of government bonds), each dollar eliminated from the national debt would cause the money supply to contract dramatically ($1.00 x .07 x10 = $0.70). That’s right; for each debt that would be paid down or eliminated also means that the dollar would also shrink down to where everything balances to zero. So, debt is necessary- it’s just the management of that debt which poses the greatest problem.

NOTE: This information resourced from online and printed materials.

Robert Randle

776 Commerce St Apt 701

Tacoma, WA 98402

November 2, 2017

robertrandle51@yahoo.com