earthbound2-1America's financial system is based on fiat money-
it has no intrinsic value, but has been merely declared to have
value.  It is not backed by any kind of asset (like silver or
gold).  Worthless fiat money is accompanied by 'legal tender'
laws.  This means that there is law requiring everyone to accept
the money in commerce, under the threat of fine or imprisonment.
The Federal Reserve System is a cartel; not a government ownd
agency. A cartel is an agreement between parties to abstain from
competition with each other. Like OPEC, no one owns "the Fed",
it is merely an agreement between private parties.  The Federal
Reserve creates money based on the promise of the government to
repay the money created. It is a debt instrument.  Long ago,
gold merchant bankers discovered that when they held gold for
their clients, the clients retrieved their gold only 10% of the
time, preferring to keep it in a safe warehouse.  So the gold
merchants began to create credit receipts based on their
clients' gold dep