THE HISTORY OF MONEY PART 1

Let’s Go FORWARD

Tell someone you are going to a convention of accountants and you might get a few yawns, yet money and how it works is probably one of the most interesting things on earth.

It is fascinating and almost magical how money appeared on our planet. Unlike most developments we enjoy, which can be traced back to a source, civilisation or inventor, money appeared in places then unconnected all over the world in a remarkably simular way.

Consider the American Indians using Wampum, West Africans trading in decorative metallic objects called Manillas and the Fijians economy based on whales teeth, some of which are still legal tender; add to that shells, amber, ivory, decorative feathers, cattle including oxen & pigs, a large number of stones including jade and quartz which have all been used for trade across the world, and we get a taste of the variety of accepted currency.

There is something charming and childlike imagining primitive societies, our ancestors, using all these colourful forms of money. As long as everyone concerned can agree on a value, this is a sensible thing for a community to do.

After all, the person who has what you need might not need what you have to trade. Money solves that problem neatly. Real value with each exchange, and everyone gaining from the convenience. The idea is really inspired which might explain why so many diverse minds came up with it.

BUT ALL IS NOT WELL

”History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.”
President James Madison

Money, money, money, it’s always just been there, right? Wrong.

Obviously it’s issued by the government to make it easy for us to exchange things. Wrong again!

Truth is most people don’t realise that the issuing of money is essentially a private business, and that the privilege of issuing money has been a major bone of contention throughout history.

Wars have been fought and depressions have been caused in the battle over who issues the money; however the majority of us are not aware of this, and this is largely due to the fact that the winning side became and increasingly continues to be a vital and respected member of our global society, having an influence over large aspects of our lives including our education, our media and our governments.

While we might feel powerless in trying to stop the manipulation of money for private profit at our expense, it is easy to forget that we collectively give money its value. We have been taught to believe printed pieces of paper have special value, and because we know others believe this too, we are willing to work all our lives to get what we are convinced others will want.

An honest look at history will show us how our innocent trust has been misused.

[RBG Note; remainder of comment removed. Please provide links and summaries in the future. Thanks.]

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Reserve Requirements
Reserve requirements are the amount of funds that a depository institution must hold in reserve against specified deposit liabilities. Within limits specified by law, the Board of Governors has sole authority over changes in reserve requirements. Depository institutions must hold reserves in the form of vault cash or deposits with Federal Reserve Banks.

The dollar amount of a depository institution’s reserve requirement is determined by applying the reserve ratios specified in the Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation D to an institution’s reservable liabilities (see table of reserve requirements). Reservable liabilities consist of net transaction accounts, nonpersonal time deposits, and eurocurrency liabilities. Since December 27, 1990, nonpersonal time deposits and eurocurrency liabilities have had a reserve ratio of zero.

The reserve ratio on net transactions accounts depends on the amount of net transactions accounts at the depository institution. The Garn-St Germain Act of 1982 exempted the first $2 million of reservable liabilities from reserve requirements. This “exemption amount” is adjusted each year according to a formula specified by the act. The amount of net transaction accounts subject to a reserve requirement ratio of 3 percent was set under the Monetary Control Act of 1980 at $25 million. This “low-reserve tranche” is also adjusted each year (see table of low-reserve tranche amounts and exemption amounts since 1982). Net transaction accounts in excess of the low-reserve tranche are currently reservable at 10 percent.

For more history on the changes in reserve requirement ratios and the indexation of the exemption and low-reserve tranche, see the annual review in the H.3 statistical release. Additional details on reserve requirements can be found in the Reserve Maintenance Manual (682 KB PDF) and in the article (119 KB PDF) in the Federal Reserve Bulletin, the appendix of which has tables of historical reserve ratios.

Reserve Requirements
Type of liability Requirement
Percentage of liabilities Effective date
Net transaction accounts 1
$0 to $9.3 million2 0 12-20-07
More than $9.3 million to $43.9 million3 3 12-20-07
More than $43.9 million 10 12-20-07

Nonpersonal time deposits 0 12-27-90

Eurocurrency liabilities 0 12-27-90

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Note. Required reserves must be held in the form of vault cash and, if vault cash is insufficient, also in the form of a deposit maintained with a Federal Reserve Bank. An institution that is a member of the Federal Reserve System must hold that deposit directly with a Reserve Bank; an institution that is not a member of the System can maintain that deposit directly with a Reserve Bank or with another institution in a pass-through relationship. Reserve requirements are imposed on commercial banks, savings banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions, U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, Edge corporations, and agreement corporations.

1. Total transaction accounts consists of demand deposits, automatic transfer service (ATS) accounts, NOW accounts, share draft accounts, telephone or preauthorized transfer accounts, ineligible bankers acceptances, and obligations issued by affiliates maturing in seven days or less. Net transaction accounts are total transaction accounts less amounts due from other depository institutions and less cash items in the process of collection. For a more detailed description of these deposit types, see Form FR 2900 at http://www.federalreserve.gov/…..portforms/
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2. The amount of net transaction accounts subject to a reserve requirement ratio of zero percent (the “exemption amount”) is adjusted each year by statute. The exemption amount is adjusted upward by 80 percent of the previous year’s (June 30 to June 30) rate of increase in total reservable liabilities at all depository institutions. No adjustment is made in the event of a decrease in such liabilities. Return to table

3. The amount of net transaction accounts subject to a reserve requirement ratio of 3 percent is the “low-reserve tranche.” By statute, the upper limit of the low-reserve tranche is adjusted each year by 80 percent of the previous year’s (June 30 to June 30) rate of increase or decrease in net transaction accounts held by all depository institutions. Return to table

Low-Reserve Tranche Amounts and Exemption Amounts since 1982
Effective date
(beginning of
maintenance period) Low-reserve
tranche amount
(millions of U.S. dollars) Exemption amount
(millions of U.S. dollars)
January 14, 1982 26.0 n.a.
December 23, 1982 n.a. 2.1
January 13, 1983 26.3 ***
January 12, 1984 28.9 2.2
January 3, 1985 29.8 2.4
January 2, 1986 31.7 2.6
January 1, 1987 36.7 2.9
December 31, 1987 40.5 3.2
December 29, 1988 41.5 3.4
December 28, 1989 40.4 3.4
December 27, 1990 41.1 3.4
December 26, 1991 42.2 3.6
December 24, 1992 46.8 3.8
December 23, 1993 51.9 4.0
December 22, 1994 54.0 4.2
December 21, 1995 52.0 4.3
December 31, 1996 49.3 4.4
January 1, 1998 47.8 4.7
December 31, 1998 46.5 4.9
December 30, 1999 44.3 5.0
December 28, 2000 42.8 5.5
December 27, 2001 41.3 5.7
December 26, 2002 42.1 6.0
December 25, 2003 45.4 6.6
December 23, 2004 47.6 7.0
December 22, 2005 48.3 7.8
December 21, 2006 45.8 8.5
December 20, 2007 43.9 9.3

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n.a. Not applicable.Return to table
*** No change. Return to table

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Last update: September 26, 2007

Mexico, Jan 24 (Prensa Latina) The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) undermines Mexican sovereignty and jeopardizes corn, the basis of its cultural wealth, assured Martin Velasquez, of the Mexican alliance for Self Determination of the Peoples (AMAP).

During a debate within the framework of the Mexican World Social Forum-2008 it was said that without corn there is no country, and the Campesino Moviment called on civil society to defend the sources of food and national freedoms.

An agricultural and food model was imposed on Mexico based on privatization, indiscriminate trade openings and deregulation of the sector, recalled Vasquez.

He added that dependence and monopolization of the agrarian market had penetrated deeply and become a supreme law of the nation and policy of the State when NAFTA was set in motion in 1994.

He explained that two million agricultural jobs have been lost, which has worsened since January 1, 2008 when taxes on corn and beans were eliminated, among those on other items.

He pointed out that due to the crisis in the sector three hundred thousand Mexican campesinos have emigrated to the United States.

Production of food is at a standstill and imposes the inhuman and irrational logic of campesinos moving to the United States and importing food products, mostly from the same labor, he insisted.

We are the butter on the bread, the grease on the wheel and when anyone tells me it is the owners, the wealthy who make the money I always ask if they did it in a vacuum. They may be the seed but they sure as hell are not the whole plant, without us they got nothing. And as far as bond traders, and Bain(Romney) corporation types go, their contribution to society is one of predator parasite killing labor, ruining peoples lives.

It pisses me off always to see some group of pencil neck fucks with money push around six foot tall guys like me and get away with it in the name of some law designed to crush me for no other reason than greed.

Don’t even get me started on health care.
Again thx for caring and acting.

Supreme Allied Commander sure saw the militay-industrial threat coming.

What Operation Overlord will free Corporatist-Occupied America?

This is just another example of ruling class complicity between the rich white people in congress. This economic slowdown didn’t just run us over like a truck. They knew it was coming. They were just waiting for an economic 9/11 so they could pass one more round of corporate tax cuts under the guise of stimulus before a Dem POTUS gets in office.

In 2005, of all the federal taxes paid, 7% were paid by corporations.

Me and you footed the other 93%.