The evil of the Federal Reserve: currency debasement

From Mises.org -- The Moral Issues of Money:

The author recounts a sermon by his pastor:

His sermon came from the book of James, chapter 5, verses 1 to 6:

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Now, if you're a "rich person," this passage seems quite grim. But it's not that simple of a read. With a little analysis and clear thinking, it is evident — and my pastor pointed this out — that James isn't speaking to "the rich" per se, but to the capitalists — that is, to business owners, wealthy industrialists, and those who employ the masses. James says to them, Do not exploit.

James warns against four types of exploitation: (1) money debasement, (2) defrauding employees, (3) gluttony, and (4) legal/civil aggression.

In regard to this verse, three things must explained: (1) Gold and silver were the money of that age. (2) Gold and silver have a variety of unique attributes which make them ideal for being money, and one of those attributes is that, so long as they are 99.9 percent pure, they never truly corrode. Last, (3) Gold and silver must be forged by fire; and when they melt, all impurities are exposed and divorced from the pure gold and silver.

Comparing James's statement to these facts, it is clear what James is addressing in verse 3: He is talking about money, and he is speaking out against the debasement of it.

The quote from James struck home;  it can just as easily be applied to today's ruling oligarchy of politicians, banks, and assorted connected Statists.

Read the rest here. You know where it goes from here:  The Federal Reserve prints money from thin air and debases the dollar.  This, of course, is legal plunder, and is immoral and evil. 

Here is a companion quote from the NY Sun, a (usually neocon) conservative newspaper in the NY socialist peoples republic:

Mr. Obama has never given us a major speech in which he talks about how he views money or what he thinks of what has become of the dollar during his presidency. The value of the greenback has, for the record, fallen more than 43% from the 853^rd of an ounce of gold that it was worth at the end of the day on which Mr. Obama acceded to the presidency. That is less of a decline than the 68% slide in the value of the dollar under President George W. Bush. But Mr. Bush was in office eight years. The steepness of the plunge under Mr. Obama is breathtaking.(emphasis added)