Lee Metcalf: “I am certain that U.S. citizens would be furious if they realized that each person pays $100 each year to the Federal…”

“I am certain that U.S. citizens would be furious if they realized that each person pays $100 each year to the Federal Reserve to rent the paper money we use. Why do we each pay $100 for the privilege of using Federal Reserve notes when we could use United States Treasury currency with no cost at all? If we issued our paper money the same way that we issue our coins, we could reduce the national debt by $600 billion and eliminate $30 billion out of annual payments, interest payments on the Treasury bonds, interest on the U.S. Treasury bonds held by the Federal Reserve supposedly to back the currency. The Federal Reserve notes we use are technically liabilities of the Fed. It would be easy to fix this badly broken system. Congress need only pass a law declaring that all Federal Reserve notes are officially United States Treasury currency. This would relieve the Fed of all liability for our paper money, and they would then be required to return the bonds that they have held as backing for our currency presently. We owe it to the citizens of our country to make every effort to reduce this foolish and costly burden.”