Modern Capitalism – The Marxist View: Part 9А Treachery!! Предательство!! The feared “Soviet” secret service, the KGB, was always controlled by the the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency of the USA). As such, the CIA - KGB played an insidious and decisive role in the destruction of the Soviet Union. The KGB's successor in conspiracy, the “Russian” secret service FSB (ФСБ - Федеральная служба «безопасности» России) is likewise controlled by the CIA. Among the manifold CIA – FSB tasks in stifling Arnold Lockshin is to block almost all commentaries sent in response to my material on the internet. Arnold Lockshin, political exile from the USA living in Russia ФСБ - Федеральная служба «безопасности» России - по приказу своего секретного постоянного хозяина - американского ЦРУ блокирует почти все отправленные мне комментарии. И это далеко не всё. Арнольд Локшин, Политэмигранта из США ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Money, money, money. In the United States, the increase in the money “supply” has been nothing short of dramatic. “Currently, the US government maintains over US$800 billion in cash money (primarily Federal Reserve Notes) in circulation throughout the world,up from a sum of less than $30 billion in 1959” (Money creation – Wikipedia). The Federal Reserve (US central bank) provides an even higher figure of money in circulation: “There was approximately $1.29 trillion in circulation as of October 1, 2014, of which $1.25 trillion was in Federal Reserve notes” (http://www.federalreserve.gov). When the figure includes money held in reserve at the FedReserve, the amount is even greater: “The monetary base consists of coins and Federal Reserve Notes in circulation outside the Federal Reserve Banks and the U.S. Treasury, plus deposits held by depository institutions at Federal Reserve Banks. The adjusted monetary base has increased from approximately 400 billion dollars in 1994, to 800 billion in 2005, and over 3000 billion in 2013” (United States Dollar – Wikipedia). Note the 7.5-fold increase in 20 years. The system of “fractional-reserve banking” also greatly increases the money supply. Banks lend out money but keep in reserve, i.e. on hand, only a small percentage (say, 10%) of their depositors' money that they lend out. If there is a loan repayment crisis and resulting panic or run on the banks, they cannot meet their obligations to refund the depositors' money. True, in the US, bank accounts are insured by the government up to a certain amount, but this, too, is just more phony-baloney, “printed,” essentially value- less money. If, in addition to currency and coins, one includes various deposits at commercial banks (checking and demand accounts, savings deposits, money market funds, etc. - or “M2 money supply,” the money jumps to nearly $9 trillion as of 2010 – and certainly more now. “In modern economies, relatively little of the supply of broad money is in physical currency. For example, in December 2010 in the United States, of the $8.853 trillion in broad money supply (M2), only about 10% (or $915.7 billion) consisted of physical coins and paper money.” (Money creation – Wikipedia). The rest is “electronic money;” it does not even have to be printed. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////// How much of this money is “backed” by gold? “A small portion of the gold held by the U.S. Treasury (roughly $600 million in book value)--about five percent--is held in custody for the Treasury by the Federal Reserve Banks, as fiscal agents of the United States. The vast majority of this gold is located in the vault at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and a very small portion is on display in several Federal Reserve Banks. The remaining 95 percent of U.S. Treasury gold ($10.4 billion in book value) is held in custody for the Treasury by the U.S. Mint” (http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/does-the-federal-reserve-own-or-hold-gold.htm). At the absurdly low “statutory price” of gold of $42.2222 per troy ounce, the US Treasury owns approximately $11 billion worth of gold. Multiplying by the more realistic figure of $1,200 per ounce, total gold worth held by the United States of America is around $310 billion. That is to say, approximately 3.5% of US “broad money” is backed by gold; about 96.5% of greenbacks are not backed by gold – or anything else. And nothing compels the US Treasury Department to sell even one ounce of gold to defend the dollar. A similar – or even worse – situation holds in every country of the world. The “money” is phony, people. That reality has not yet sunk in. But it will.