Lee Metcalf: “my topic today is money. About the only thing most of us know about money is that we need more of it. But there is…”

“my topic today is money. About the only thing most of us know about money is that we need more of it. But there is really a lot more that we need to know about our money system. For example, most people do not know that we pay rent on our money; yes, interest or rent on the cash we use. It costs every American about $100 every year indirectly to rent our cash, that is, our paper money, from its owners, the Federal Reserve. Of course, the Fed does not just spend that money. It is returned to the Federal Treasury. Thus, in reality, if it goes to the Treasury, it is a tax or rent we Americans pay to the Fed for the privilege of using the Fed's money, an indirect tax on our money in circulation. We all know that we are taxed on nearly everything, but not many people know that we pay a tax on our money. This tax, about $25 billion, or $100 per person, is paid to the Fed each year by the U.S. Treasury to pay interest on U.S. bonds that are held by the Fed to back our money. What a foolish and costly system, to rent Federal Reserve notes for $25 billion a year, when the U.S. Treasury could issue our own currency, our own United States notes, without debt or bonds or any interest at all, just as we issue our coins.”