Back to Fort Fairfield Journal      WFFJ-TV      Contact Us

 

 

Fake Money Circulating in

Central Aroostook County

 

By:  David Deschesne

Fort Fairfield Journal, September 12, 2018

 

   Several businesses in central Aroostook County have been the victims of another fake money fraud, this time in the form of phony $20 bills.

   The bills resemble the authentic Federal Reserve Note $20 bill but contain the disclaimer, “Replica” in several places on both front and back.  It also admits, “This Note is Not Legal, It is to be used for Motion Pictures.”

   It is believed these fake bills were part of a theme park promotion but no park name is noticeable on the bills. 

   At least six of these fake bills have been recovered.  Local and State police have been notified.  The U.S. Treasury is also aware of the bills, but since they are overtly labeled as “Replica” and not trying to hide the fact that they are counterfeit, no official investigation has been undertaken by the Feds.

   The bills first started circulating in Fort Fairfield during the 2018 Maine Potato Blossom Festival and some turned up in Mars Hill two weeks ago.

   The bills look close enough to the original that a busy clerk who isn’t looking carefully may unwittingly accept them.  Unless the business owner can positively identify the person passing them and recover legal tender money from them, they will lose the value of the bills accepted.

   While great pains are taken to verify whether the Federal Reserve Notes on hand are “real” or counterfeit at many national stores and banks, few stop to realize that the Federal Reserve Note itself is truly a counterfeit currency, since there is nothing of any substantive, tangible value backing it. The only true, lawful money in the United States is still gold or silver coin. All other so-called “money” in the form of cash, checks, bills, or notes is unlawful. Congress currently does mint gold and silver coins, called “Eagles” in $50.00 and $1.00 face values, respectively.

   The Federal Reserve's counterfeit money scheme allows a private corporation to issue paper money, based entirely on debt, by Congressional authority. This paper money scheme has so watered down the U.S. currency that prices of gasoline and fuel oil, along with many other commodities such as rice and wheat have skyrocketed to compensate for the devaluation of the currency.

   The Federal Reserve Notes are actual counterfeits of the United States' former Silver Certificates, which were certificates issued by banks to signify a given deposit of real silver coinage on hand at the bank.  This practice of banking money with gold and silver, which is mandated by the U.S. Constitution, ended in 1933 when the United States officially went bankrupt by allowing the newly created Federal Reserve bank to issue Federal Reserve Notes that were payable in gold.  The Fed issued notes created out of nothing and loaned them into circulation.  When those notes came due, they were payable in gold.  This sleight of hand allowed that private banking syndicate to covertly gather up all gold in circulation in the first twenty years of its existence.  By 1933, there wasn't enough gold in circulation to pay outstanding Federal Reserve loans and a run on the banks ensued by panicky depositers who ultimately lost their money.

   President Franklin Roosevelt then declared a "bank holiday", shut down all the banks for three days and when they reopened the private, unbacked Federal Reserve Notes were arbitrarily declared the new currency without any Constitutional authority granted to do so.

   The U.S. Constitution allows the Congress to provide for the punishment of those who counterfeit the Securities and current coin of the United States.1 But, it makes no mention of a private banking cabal empowered by Congress to do exactly that.

   The United States Constitution only allows gold or silver coin to be used in a tender of payment of debt.2 The Constitution only grants the power to coin money to Congress3 - not a private bank - and does not authorize the use of any type of paper debt currency as money.  This clause has never been amended or overturned, which creates a legal conflict for the Federal Reserve's counterfeit debt-based money that circulates today in place of our real money.

   In 1933, Congress arbitrarily determined “to coin” also meant “to print”4 and subsequently devolved their power to produce money to a private banking system called the Federal Reserve.5 However, they did not amend the U.S. Constitution to allow for same.

   The name “Federal Reserve” is a misnomer since the organization is not “Federal” and has no “reserves.” Instead, the Federal Reserve is a conglomeration of private banking firms empowered by the U.S. government to create debt-based money from nothing with a 99% profit margin.

   The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing actually prints the Federal Reserve Notes we commonly know as “cash.” The Federal Reserve then buys the printed notes at the cost of ink, paper and labor to print6 - around 5 cents per bill. Then they turn around and loan those bills back to the government at full face value, plus interest, perfecting the profit center of their counterfeit money scheme.

   The reason counterfeiting was rightly shunned is because all U.S. money was originally based on a certain amount of gold or silver in existence at the U.S. Treasury, in banks, or in circulation. Any securities, such as silver or gold certificates, bonds, etc. that were printed must have had an equivalent amount of precious metal to back them. When paper certificates were counterfeited, there was not a corresponding gold or silver piece on hand to back them up and when they were entered into circulation, they watered down the overall value of all other legitimate certificates and securities.

   Since Congress removed gold and silver from our money system, the Federal Reserve has been doing nothing but watering down the value of the U.S. money system by continually placing more and more of their debt instrument money into circulation.

   This counterfeiting scheme has resulted in the U.S. and the world becoming awash in excessive amounts of paper Federal Reserve Notes, thereby reducing their individual face value by approximately 96% of their original value. Today’s $1.00 Federal Reserve Note is only worth about 6 cents of its former value.7  This reduction in purchasing power has caused the prices of all products and services to rise in order to compensate for the now worth less money.

   This watering down of the money system is counterfeiting, but the U.S. Congress benefits from same by being able to fund their deficits, limitless wars and welfare systems by continually printing and borrowing more and more paper - paper notes which the Federal Reserve banking system then gets to earn interest on.  This has resulted in a U.S. National Debt today in excess of $21 trillion which is mathematically impossible to pay off since all new money is brought into circulation via more debt in order to discharge the old debt plus interest.

   Since the police who are charged with enforcing and upholding the Constitution now work for the same government that is violating it, there is likely no chance of them ever taking the proper stand against the Federal Reserve, or affiliated banks, as the counterfeit paper money continues to stream through the U.S. economy, destroying the lives and fortunes of untold millions of Americans, plus those police officers and their families, too.

 

Notes:

1. U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Sec. 8, Clause 6

2. op cit., Article 1, Sec. 10, Clause 1

3. op cit., Article 1, Sec. 8, Clause 5

4. Congressional Debates on House Joint Resolution 192, May 29-June 3, 1933, pp. 4540, 4900, Senator Barkley at p. 4907; see also Monetary Policy in the United States: An Intellectual and Institutional History, Richard Timberlake, ©1993 University of Chicago Press, pp. 155, 240, 414-415.

5. House Joint Resolution 192, June 5, 1933

6. Federal Reserve Act, H.R. 7837, December 23, 1913.

7. Fort Fairfield Journal, December 5, 2007, p. 3