Counterfeiting Money Is A Crime - Whether Done by the Fed or A Private Individual

A few years ago, shortly after the 2008 subprime lending disaster, the Fed sent a public relations team around the country to conduct supposedly "educational sessions" about how the Fed works and the wonderful things it does. The public was invited, and there was a question and answer session at the end of the presentation. One such session was held in Des Moines, Iowa. At the time I was teaching a course in Austrian economics at the University of Iowa, so I lusted at the prospect of hearing complete nonsense and having a shot at asking a question. I was not disappointed.

The educational part of the session lasted about an hour, and it became clear to me that the panel of four knew almost nothing about monetary theory. They may even have been hired especially for this grand tour, because all were relatively young, well scrubbed, and very personable–let's face it, not your typical Fed monetary policy wonks or bank examiners! The panelists discussed only one of the Fed's two remits–its remit to promote the economic advancement of the nation. Its other remit is to safeguard the monetary system. However, the panelists did touched upon the Fed's control of interest rates and ensuring that money continued to flow to housing and other high profile areas of the economy.

Finally, at the end of the presentation, those with questions were asked to form a queue and advance one at a time to a microphone. I was last in a line of about a dozen. Here's my recollection of what followed:

Me: You say that you (the Fed) have the power to increase the money supply. Is that right?

Fed: Yes.

Me: And you have indeed increased the money supply. Is that right?

Fed: Yes.

Me: And the money that you create was generated out of thin air. It wasn't there before, but it's there now. Is that right?

Fed (Getting nervous): Yes.

Me: And you say that creating this money out of thin air is beneficial to the economy. Is that right?

Fed (Now nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof): Yes.

Me: Then why do you prosecute counterfeiters?

(The audience, after a few seconds' delay,: Yeah, why DO you prosecute counterfeiters?)

Fed: This meeting is closed.

My point is that there is no difference in the economic consequences to society between the Fed creating money out of thin air and a counterfeiter doing the same thing. The difference is solely legal and one of scale. Private counterfeiters are punished, and rightly so, whereas the Fed is lauded for its actions.

Counterfeiters are punished because printing money is the same thing as stealing. A counterfeiter does not print money only to stuff it under his mattress in order to feel wealthy. He knows that he needs to pass his fake money on to someone else in exchange for some valuable good or service. In this recent Mises Wire article,Frank Shostak refers to such action as getting something for nothing. Richard Cantillon observed that the first receivers of the new money benefit at the expense of all subsequent receivers — the Cantillon Effect. In arecent Mises Wire article Carmen Elena Dorobat explained that the Cantillon Effect can extend internationally. Therefore, nations accepting dollars for payment in the later stages of fiat money expansion suffer a transfer of wealth to the early receivers of the new dollars, mostly the banks and their customers in the US.

https://mises.org/wire/counterfeiting-money-crime-%E2%80%94-whether-done-fed-or-private-individual

Chinese Tycoon’s Son Buys $3.8 Million Bugatti In Vancouver With Dad’s Credit Card, Complains About Taxes

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-14/chinese-tycoons-son-buys-38-million-bugatti-vancouver-dads-credit-card-complains

If China is communists how come they have so many billionaire tycoons?

What the Heck are the “Pentagon Papers?”

The Pentagon Papers, officially titled "Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force", was commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967. In June of 1971, small portions of the report were leaked to the press and widely distributed. However, the publications of the report that resulted from these leaks were incomplete and suffered from many quality issues.

On the 40th anniversary of the leak to the press, the National Archives, along with the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon Presidential Libraries, has released the complete report. There are 48 boxes and approximately 7,000 declassified pages. Approximately 34% of the report is available for the first time.

What is unique about this, compared to other versions, is that:

The complete Report is now available with no redactions compared to previous releases

The Report is presented as Leslie Gelb presented it to then Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford on January 15, 1969

All the supplemental back-documentation is included. In the Gravel Edition, 80% of the documents in Part V.B. were not included

This release includes the complete account of peace negotiations, significant portions of which were not previously available either in the House Armed Services Committee redacted copy of the Report or in the Gravel Edition

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/what-the-heck-are-the-pentagon-papers/

Here’s the entire Pentagon Paper Archive for ya:

https://www.archives.gov/research/pentagon-papers

Alfonse D’Amato accused of millions in bank fraud…

The wife of former New York Republican Sen. Alfonse D´Amato has gone to federal authorities alleging that her husband committed bank fraud and that he forged her signature on checks from a secret bank account for millions of dollars spanning seven years.

Katuria D’Amato, who has been in several rounds of legal battles with her husband over the last few weeks, said in an interview that she found out about the account when the U.K.-based bank HSBC sent a letter to her home about the account opened in her name.

The couple, who have been married for 15 years, are going through a complicated and contentious divorce.

D’Amato says that she called the bank regarding the letter, only to be told that the account is seven years old and that someone had withdrawn nearly $40 million over the seven years under her name.

After reporting it to the bank, the institution sent her copies of the deposited checks with her signature. D’Amato insists that the signatures on the checks show inconsistencies and are clearly forged. After confronting her husband about the checks, she said that the former senator had directed associates to sign off the checks.

“Two people were forging my name and my husband told me that he told them to do it,” she said.

The former senator’s attorney did not offer comment to the outlet and the FBI in New York would not confirm an investigation. D’Amato served from 1981 to 1999 before he was ousted by then-Rep. Chuck Schumer.

https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/alfonse-damato-accused-of-millions-in-bank-fraud/

Breastfeeding Mother Hit with $115 Ticket for Breastfeeding in Midtown NYC Traffic

Guillermina Rodriguez, a mother of four, found space to pull over after it took her about an hour to get from 42nd to 30th street in midtown Manhattan. She had a crying three-week-old baby crying in the back seat.

“Even though I saw it was a commercial area I’m like, ‘I’m not obstructing the traffic… Let me just stay there and I can breastfeed the baby there,’” Rodriguez said. She climbed into the back and began nursing. A few minutes later, a tow truck with the NYPD seal pulled up nearby.

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“He’s backing up to tow my truck, so as I am in this position breastfeeding now I jump over to the front seat to honk so he can see you know, like, ‘Don’t tow my truck, I’m in here.’”

So the agent got out and walked to her vehicle.

“I’m actually breastfeeding on one side and pumping on the other so both my breasts are out, and I turn and I’m like, ‘I’m breastfeeding the baby!’” Rodriguez told CBS News. “And he kind of looks and he’s like, ‘Oh, OK,’… puts the ticket on the windshield and leaves.”

She got a $115 ticket for idling in a commercial zone.

According to the NYPD, the officer had written the ticket before he noticed Rodriguez was breastfeeding. Without the power to void tickets, he was stuck. Rodriguez says police should be willing to make an exception for nursing.

“I feel like getting them a little bit more educated on that area would be a lot more helpful,” she said.

http://www.madnesshub.com/2019/04/breastfeeding-mother-hit-with-115.html

Strong Storms in US South Kill at Least 8 and Injure Dozens

Powerful storms swept across the South on Sunday after unleashing suspected tornadoes and flooding that killed at least eight people, injured dozens and flattened much of a Texas town. Three children were among the dead.

Nearly 90,000 customers were without electricity in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Georgia as of midday Sunday, according to www.poweroutage.us as the severe weather left a trail of destruction.

Two children were killed on a back road in East Texas when a pine tree fell onto the car in which they were riding in a severe thunderstorm Saturday near Pollok, about 150 miles southeast of Dallas.

The tree “flattened the car like a pancake,” said Capt. Alton Lenderman of the Angelina County Sheriff’s Office. The children, ages 8 and 3, were dead at the scene, while both parents, who were in the front seat, escaped injury, he said.

At least one person was killed and about two dozen others were injured after a suspected tornado struck the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in East Texas during a Native American cultural event in Alto, about 130 miles southeast of Dallas. Cherokee County Judge Chris Davis said the fatality that was reported was of a woman who died of her critical injuries.

In neighboring Houston County, the sheriff’s office said one person was killed in Weches, 6 miles southwest of Caddo Mound.

There was widespread damage in Alto, a town of about 1,200, and the school district canceled classes until its buildings can be deemed safe.

A tornado flattened much of the south side of Franklin, Texas, overturning mobile homes and damaging other residences, said Robertson County Sheriff Gerald Yezak. Franklin is about 125 miles south of Dallas.

The weather service said preliminary information showed an EF-3 tornado touched down with winds of 140 mph.

More

https://www.theepochtimes.com/strong-storms-in-us-south-kill-at-least-8-and-injure-dozens_2879635.html

LNA Ramps Up Airstrikes, Prepares For Final Push To Capture Tripoli

On April 13th, Field Marshal Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) and their opposition in the face of the Government of National Accord’s force both claimed to be making significant progress in the battle for Tripoli.

On the side of the LNA, the spokesperson claimed that the Air Force had targeted several GNA forces and positions.

https://southfront.org/lna-ramps-up-airstrikes-prepares-for-final-push-to-capture-tripoli/

Haftar is Mossad

Libya’s Haftar ‘provided with Israeli military aid following UAE-mediated meetings with Mossad agents’

https://www.marsad.ly/en/2017/07/24/libyas-haftar-provided-israeli-military-aid-following-uae-mediated-meetings-mossad-agents/

Mossad replaces CIA as Haftar's handler in Libya

https://www.sott.net/article/358876-Sibel-Edmonds-Mossad-replaces-CIA-as-Haftars-handler-in-Libya

President al-Assad: what regional, international arenas witnessing entails from Syria and Iraq to go forwards in everything that could preserve their sovereignty and independent decision

Damascus, SANA- President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday received Iraqi National Security Adviser Faleh al-Fayyad.

Talks during the meeting dealt with the bilateral relations between the two countries, affirming necessity of developing them in different domains to serve the interests of the two brotherly peoples.

President al-Assad asserted that enhancing relations between the two countries serves the interest of the two brotherly peoples to complete the elimination of terrorism’s hotbeds on one hand and in a way that would serve their common interests and break fabricated hurdles imposed between them on the other hand.

President al-Assad affirmed that what the regional and international arenas are witnessing entails from Syria and Iraq to go forwards in everything that could preserve their sovereignty and the independence of their decision in the face of the division schemes and the chaos plotted by the enemies abroad.

He stressed that the fate of the region is only determined by its peoples no matter how great the challenges.

For his part, Adviser al-Fayyad affirmed that Syria’s strength and its victory over terrorism is a victory for Iraq also and vice versa, any military achievement by the Iraqi side comes in the interest of Syria’s stability.

The meeting was attended by Syrian Ambassador to Iraq Sattam al-Dandah.

President al-Assad received a letter late last year from Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi, conveyed by al-Fayad, on the development of relations between the two countries and coordination between them , particularly in the fight against terrorism.

https://sana.sy/en/?p=163296

'Clearly a joke': White House explains away Trump's 'I love WikiLeaks' comments

The recent arrest of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange has put the White House in the awkward position of having to explain away US President Donald Trump previous praise for the whistleblowing website.

Trump was a fan of WikiLeaks' whistleblowing back in 2016, when the website released leaked documents from the Democratic National Committee, including the emails of the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta. Delighting in the incriminating information that came to light thanks to Assange and his people, Trump declared he loved WikiLeaks, and called the documents a "treasure trove".

Now that Assange has been arrested and indicted in the US with conspiracy to hack a government computer network in 2010, Trump's affections are all gone. “I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It’s not my thing,” he said dismissively earlier this week, leaving others to do the awkward explaining.

American media could not help but jump on the opportunity to remind the White House about the president’s past statements – MSNBC even made a point of counting how many times Trump had mentioned WikiLeaks previously, and came up with an impressive 141 in just the final month of his campaign alone. Fox News took the opportunity to ask White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders about the sudden change of heart.

It turns out those were all jokes.

"Look, clearly the president was making a joke during the 2016 campaign," Sanderds said.

She also assured Fox News that the Trump administration “certainly” takes the issue “seriously” now, then quickly recovered and turned it into an attack on the Obama administration.

“In fact, our administration is the only one that’s done anything about it,” she said. “We’re the only ones that have taken this whole process seriously in actually doing something to solve the problem.”

Sanders said that the only reason Assange is being “looked at” at all is the fact that he worked the US Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who handed him over classified US documents back in 2010, adding that it was Obama who commuted Manning’s sentence. Trump himself has called Manning a "traitor" before.

Assange was arrested by the British authorities after his asylum was revoked by Ecuador, which also suspended his citizenship. He is now facing extradition to the US and possibly more severe charges there.

https://www.rt.com/usa/456501-trump-love-wikileaks-assange-joke/

Iran denounces Pompeo’s ‘ridiculous’ claim of meddling in Venezuela

Iran has denounced US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s claim that Tehran is interfering in the internal affairs of Caracas, saying Washington is the one that must stop meddling in Venezuela and targeting its nation with “economic terrorism”.

The remarks were made by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi, who described the claim as “ridiculous” in a Sunday statement.

Mousavi said a group of Iranian specialists are trying to “improve the water and electricity systems in Venezuela” at the request of the country’s government.

This comes as “the US has plundered $30 billion worth of Venezuela’s foreign-exchange reserves, is targeting the Venezuelan nation with its economic terrorism, asking them to either riot against their legitimate government or face starvation,” he added.

Mousavi strongly condemned the US for such “blatant” interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs, and said, “The US under Trump seeks to turn Latin America into its backyard, just like the way it was in the 19th century. However, nations of the world, particularly the people of Latin America, have woken up and the wheel of time will not move backwards.”

The comments came after Pompeo claimed that Iran has a financial presence in South America.

“Iranian money remains in South America being used for malign purposes, supporting Hezbollah, supporting transnational criminal organizations, supporting efforts at terrorism throughout the region," Pompeo told the Voice of America on Saturday.

"This is Iran intervening in South America. That's not in the best interests of the South American people, and the United States stands ready,” he added.

Pompeo spoke during a stop in Paraguay on a trip that Washington has said will focus on developments in Venezuela.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/04/14/593450/Iran-pompeo-venezuela-interference-mousavi-maduro