A brief history of money.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MONEY

Money, we are all familiar with it, most want more, some to the point of  excess. It has been described as the, "Root of all Evil".  Realistically, we do need a certain amount, but I would like to talk about a simple brief history of Money.

Originally, most financial transactions were a form of barter,"I'll trade you a goat for that woven shirt that one of your wives made". Or,"I am tired of goats, how about we trade for some of your sheep". This all worked out well and good, but eventually someone got the bright idea of converting wealth to some form of exchange.

There is some record of salt being a form of exchange, or round stones with holes,  but most items were quick to lose their value when someone either found a pit with enough salt to flood the market or a method to mass produce stones with holes.

Eventually they settled on gold and silver as a form of money. Early records show that, as early as 2150 BC, the Shekel and Talent were used in the middle east, These were measures of weight,  A shekel was .36 of a troy weight oz. A Talent was equal to 60 manehs and 3000 shekels. This standard of weight was used by Egypt, Babylon, Phoenicia, Greece, Persia etc.  The ratio was 15 shekel's of silver = 1 shekel of gold.  Everyone had a balance scale to do business.

Finally, as governments grew and became more sophisticated, the minting of money began. This consisted of coins which were of a standardized weight, usually embossed with the image of  the King or individual in power at the time. It made trade much simpler and must have caused a recession in the scale business.

As is usually the case, it did allow for some skullduggery, clipping and shaving of coins was known to happen. Then Kings sometimes made the coins smaller with the same designation. This may have been the first form of Government endorsed inflation.  "Honey, were did we put that old scale?"

Interestingly, the size and weight of coins varied over the years, but the ratio of gold to silver was fairly constant from 500 BC up to the 20th Century.

Biblical  times-  12-1             Rome          12-1         Europe     0-1492        10-1

Early Greece      13-1             Early Japan  8-1                          1492-1834   15-1

Alexander          10-1             Early China  12-1        England                       16-1

The United States settled on the ratio of 15-1  The Constitution stated that all money was to be gold or silver coin.

O course, we have been talking about gold and silver coins. What about paper money?

In medieval Europe, gold and silver was the medium of exchange. When someone had a little more than needed for survival, they often placed it with a Goldsmith, who had a natural need for security in his business.  He would account for their items and give them a receipt.  The Rothschild's started out this way.  Humans sometimes being a little lazy, and not too careful about things, began to exchange the receipts for other goods and services and leave the gold with the goldsmith.  Goldsmiths, who were a little sharper than the average person of the day, soon realized that his receipts were as good as gold, and no one knew how much gold he really had stored for people. He was able to purchase Real-Estate, finance explorers to the new world and many other endeavors with his own receipts that did not represent gold in his possession. I could expound forever about how they used this power, but I will resist.

There were many known instances were these early bankers got a little too greedy, rumors circulated that there was more receipts than gold, and a run for their gold started.  When they could not produce the gold,  he might have been found hanging somewhere.

Remember, Politicians and Governments always take note of a good idea to increase their power and wealth.

Early paper money was a receipt for a weight of gold or silver, In the USA. a silver dollar was .7734 troy oz. of silver.  20 silver dollars could be exchanged for 1 Oz. troy of gold, a $20 gold piece. This was a ratio of 15-1. I personally remember silver certificates, which were supposed to be redeemable for 1 silver dollar. Up to 1934 you could exchange a $20 bill for a $20 gold coin. The US dollar had the reputation of being, "as good as gold". The gold-silver ratio today is 72-1.

In 1914, with passage of the Federal Reserve Act,  money no longer represented an asset, but would now represent Government debt. A promise to repay by the government.

In 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt, by executive order, ordered all citizens to turn in their Gold Coins in exchange for paper $20.00 bills. Private possession, or exchange of gold was outlawed. When the government decided they had confiscated all the gold they were going to get, they raised the price of gold to $35.00 oz., this was used for trade between countries. Those wonderful paper dollars they exchanged with the citizenry just became worth 43% less than the gold coins they exchanged.  Citizens were threatened with $10,000 fines and 10 years in jail for not cooperating.  Gold ownership was again legalized in December of 1974.

Silver still circulated as coins till 1964,  when they were replaced by alloys with no intrinsic value.

So now all money that exists, has  no intrinsic value, but only the confidence that someone else will exchange goods and services for it. While there are many instances in modern history where that confidence evaporated, so far most people are still willing to accept modern currency.

Currency itself is now in the process of being replaced with electronic currency, Bitcoin, Debit and Credit cards etc.. Endless possibilities, that will make the ancient clippers, shavers and dishonest goldsmiths envious.

originally published Oct. 12, 2015

It appears we are now coming to the end of fiat currency era, that is currency without any real built in value. What will replace it is yet to be seen. Big government would of course love to have currency that is just a digital entry, that they could manipulate, block, or devalue with a click of a computer. It seems some of the world is exploring another option that would be some form of real money. There is one of those age old truths that good money will always drive out bad money. That is true as long as there is an option of good money available. I expect we will seeing the new options in the near future. 
5/8/23

We now see the plan to introduce a central bank digital currency. Indeed, a monetary unit without any intrinsic value, unable to be held personally. It will allow governments to view every transaction, determine what transactions should be allowed, confiscate all wealth with the click of a computer key and in effect give government ultimate power over the people. It will be the end of all freedom of choice in a free market. It will give government the ability to tax, inflate, confiscate and dictate what can and cannot be traded. It will create all kinds of methods to avoid this trap and will be accompanied with the penalties to enforce that this is the only alternative money.

8/24/23

We can expect the unsustainable debt and deficits of the United States, accompanied by the desire of other countries to flee the use of the dollar, to reach a crisis in the near future. It is very likely that it will soon be clear that this debt will no longer find those willing to risk this haven for their real money. We can expect schemes to rescue this situation with possibly forced investment by IRA and 401's into U.S. debt or a sudden crisis followed by the end of this current fiat money system. We expect the cure to be total control of all assets.

5/3/2024

The EU is pushing to get its CBDC launched this year. As the debt situation in most of the western world is escalating many predict some sort of reset of the financial system. It will most likely be preceded by a debt crisis and then the roll out of the promised solution.

9/27/2024

We now see flight from U.S. bonds from countries around the world. It seems that interest rates are now possibly needed to rise to sell this debt. Those liquidating U.S. debt seem to be buying Monetary metal. The answer to shoring up the U.S. dollar and debt market is a balanced budget. With a $2 trillion deficit either raising taxes or cutting spending will cause a economic recession at best.

1/14/25

The purpose of this article is to hope to make people aware of what money is supposed to be. A store of value, an asset, not an instrument of manipulation by governments. 

3/17/2025

Gold is now $5200 an oz. silver $89.00 an oz. 57-1 ratio. No balanced budget in sight by any pollical party. The debt and deficits are unsustainable. The flight from fake paper money around the word continues.

2/27/2026

Debt continues to rise, gold and silver rise has paused during this Iran war, but the western banking and currency system is unsustainable. I reprint this with the hope that more will understand that money should be an asset under your own control.

6/1/2026

Message is clear, Nuclear weapons are best deterrence.

 CAN WE NOW SEE MORE NUCLEAR COUNTRIES?

CAN THEY ALL BE RESTRICTED BY MILITARY FORCE?

On January 29, 2002 George Bush 2 made a speech declaring the axis of evil of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. On March 20, 2003 the U.S. invaded Iraq under the pretext that they sought nuclear weapons. North Korea and Iran then began their quest to become nuclear deterrent countries, with Iran suspending that program because of an edict by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 2003. North Korea became a nuclear power in 2006 and remains the only country not attacked by the U.S. 

While it is true North Korea has limited resources desirable by the United States, any country with resources may now be very well considering their only way of establishing a deterrence is by becoming a nuclear armed country. This would especially apply to Saudi Arabia and Turkey, one with resources and one already being listed by Israel as a possible threat and the keeper of a strategic choke point.

The message being heard by many countries is that their only assurance of real deterrence against some sort of attack is nuclear weapons. It is very likely that more countries are going to entertain the idea that it is in their best interest to go down that road. Large countries in South America have the capacity and skills to accomplish this very quickly, with open threats from its neighbor to the north and the example of Venezuela and Cuba they are probably considering this option.

Saudi Arabia already has a  defense agreement with nuclear armed Pakistan and the money to just purchase these weapons. Does anyone doubt that North Korea would sell weapons to those it found to be safe customers?

Japan swore off nuclear weapons after WW2, but that was a different generation, they may soon decide it is time to join the nuclear club, especially with the increased pressure to choose sides in the pacific region,  same with South Korea.

The technology is now 75 years old and the ability to manufacture these weapons is available to many nations. There is no longer any need for testing, just the ability to copy the plans and tests of some other nuclear country, which is most likely available. 

It may soon become impossible to play whack a mole by military force to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The world political scene now indicates that nuclear weapons are going to be used somewhere in the near future. 

Ukraine conflict heats up.

 MOSCOW INFORMS WEST TO EVACUATE EMBASSIES

BOTH SIDES ESCALATE

In the last few weeks Ukraine has attacked inside Russia in an increasing escalation, Russia responded with massive drone and missile attacks all across Ukraine. A few days ago Ukraine attacked a school dormitory that killed 22 students and injured scores, now it appears Russia is planning a massive attack on Kiev. 

There have been much speculation that Putin is under increasing pressure to bring this conflict to a close by increasing the level of military action, this may now be what is about to happen. 

Ukraine with the assistance of NATO members has used large numbers of NATO supplied drones for most of these attacks, even using NATO airspace for attacks inside Russia. Leaders in Russia are advocating attacking the sources of these drones, which will be an attack on some NATO members, then they will have to decide if they are ready to go to war with Russia.

In the next few days we can expect some unprecedented attacks on the decision centers of Ukraine in Kiev as NATO countries have all been informed to evacuate their personnel from Kiev, what comes next is still not clear.

Zelensky asked Trump for more air defenses but it is doubtful that any more is available.

Russia has lots of weapons to use to escalate and lots of targets to expand the conflict. Does the West have resources and the will to match that escalation?

Day 88, Talk of Peace, just talk, no substance.

 KEEPING MARKETS CALM

NO TALK OF ADDRESSING ROOT CAUSES

We are subjected to the daily narrative that peace is at hand and much progress has been made. In realty, the ceasefire is at the same place it was over 6 weeks ago, still looking for a way to defeat Iran without crashing the global economy. This week we saw U.S. attacks on Iranian boats and infrastructure supposedly in self defense even though the boats were close to the Iran's shore. This and drone and other flynear attempts all seem to be just hoping to locate Iran's air and other defense positions to be targeted in a future attack. There really is no desire for a lasting peace treaty with Iran, Israel wants the country destroyed and Trump wants control of the oil. It is just that simple.

Now we hear Trump proposing that part of the peace deal is for all countries in the region join the Abraham accords and recognize and normalize relations with Israel. What is missing from all this talk of peace is any mention of the Palestinian question and what is still going on in Gaza and the west bank. The very question that started this whole war and the very question that has been ongoing for near 8 decades. Very interesting, that it is never part of any talk about a regional normalization of relations. 

If there really was a hope of a comprehensive change in the political climate in the region, yes all parties should be involved, and that would include some resolution of the Palestinian problem. 

I suspect the focus on an end to the Iran war and the hope of not destroying the global economy is in some way a distraction from any real effort of a lasting solution for peace in the region. It may be time for the international community to lay out the real borders of Judea and also to carve out some place for the Palestinian people, otherwise this will continue for another 8 decades or until it is ended by nuclear war.

Tulsi Gabbard resigns. 3rd resignation at National intelligence agency.

 BEING A FIGUREHEAD IS VERY FRUSTRATING

JOE KENT AND AMARYLLIS FOX KENNEDY LEFT EARLIER

Tulsi Gabbard has resigned from her position as Director of National Intelligence. It was clear from the beginning of this administration that she and U.S. intelligence was mostly sidelined from the decision making process. Early on, she testified that U.S. intelligence was confident that Iran was not in the process of making nuclear weapons and had abandoned that idea in 2003. Up until 2025 the IAEA who had inspectors on the ground backed up that analysis. Iran had publicly disclosed that they had enriched Uranium up to 60% after the U.S. pulled out of the nuclear agreement, mostly in an effort to renegotiate that agreement.

After those statements from Gabbard she was no longer visible in the administration and Trump publicly claimed he had better information, presumably from Israeli Intelligence.

In the last few weeks she also disclosed that she was investigating U.S. funded biological labs in Ukraine and other countries, one must wonder if that was the impetus for pressure for her resignation. We can expect we will never hear of that investigation again. 

Gabbard was sent out to investigate election interference in Georgia, hardly the role of the Director of National  Intelligence.

There have been reports of a raid on her office by the CIA, who she is supposed to oversee, that took records concerning the JFK files and the MKUltra program, a program that was supposedly discontinued concerning mind control with experimental drugs and methods.

Tulsi Gabbard was viewed by many as honest and sincere in her hope of foreign policy reform, we can expect she is an example for others who should entertain such ideas.

Flotilla members abused by Israel while in captivity.

 NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER PARTICIPATES

ISRAEL DENIES IT IS GOVERNMENT POLICY

On May 19, a flotilla of 41 vessels, called the "Global Sumud Flotilla"  was approached and boarded, by Israel military forces about 167 miles off the the Gaza coast in international waters. 428 of the members were taken captive and taken to israel. This is not the first time and possibly not the last such incident, but what has raised condemnation worldwide is the treatment of the captives members of 40 countries. Videos have emerged that have shocked most of the international community with obvious abuse and humiliation methods used.

The captives, with hands bound, were forced to crawl across the floor, kiss the Israel flag and swear allegiance to Israel.  Some were beaten for resisting with numerous injuries and they were deprived of water for over 30 hours. 

The worst part is that video show Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's National security Minister. participating in these practices. 

While there has been condemnation inside of Israel, claiming that his is not Israeli policy, I suspect that if any national leader of any country engaged in such practices, he would be immediately be removed from his position. 

No matter what one might think about the flotilla agenda, Israel has again just given their enemies another massive propaganda victory. The U.S. government responded by sanctioning the leaders of the flotilla, without any formal condemnation.

A almost unbelievable series of abuse incidents have been reported, including sexual abuse of prisoners,  without any accountability for those involved. When the National security minister is directly participating in these abuse, it is hard to deny that this not government policy.

Trump likes to play good cop, bad cop.

 TRUMP IS ALL IN ON WAR WITH IRAN

ACCESS TO IRAN OIL DEPENDS ON WINNING

We continually hear that Trump wants a negotiated end to the Iran conflict, this would be true, if Iran would surrender and hand over control of its oil resources. Of course, that would be the easy way, but since that is unlikely, any narrative about Trump seeking every way to avoid war and Bibi Netanyahu pushing for war is just so much theater. They are both all in on resuming this war when it is the deemed appropriate.

The same good cop and bad cop is being played out concerning Ukraine, there is no estrangement with the EU NATO members concerning the Ukraine conflict. When, and if, the oil of the Persian gulf is fully under control of the U.S., the pressure will resume by the U.S. on Russia. 

The goal is to control the world's energy supplies and demand submission and enforce the use of the U.S. dollar in world trade. It is a desperate gamble to maintain the US, and western control of world affairs. While its financial power is waning it is increasingly dependent on military power. The EU countries, in the same boat, are talking about building up their militaries to go to war with Russia by 2030, another desperate gamble.

The West has plans to dramatically increase military spending, even at the expense of domestic infrastructure and other domestic spending. Increasing debt in economies already experiencing massive, unsustainable debt, huge deficits, and a currency declining in buying power by the day. Engaging in wars that cause  the rise in inflation in food and energy to their citizens, all in the hope of being the dominant power in the world, without the sound bases at home for real power. It all appears to be an all or nothing gamble rather than a planned strategy to restore real wealth and political power by example.

Supporting a declining currency by force, rather than sound economic policy is a fools game.  As for the citizens, there will not be any winning, no matter the outcome, they will all pay for the gamble with declining living standards as the best outcome, but the worse outcome will be much more severe.