Re: Evolution Of Thinking (2)

Tue  Feb 26, 2008  5:04 pm

Larry begins by quoting JJ:

"Then one day I was talking to an older friend in the church who was somewhat fringe in his thinking and a local outcast. He told me the story of Lincoln's greenbacks and then explained to me how Lincoln took power away from the bankers by issuing interest free money."

Larry then provides a quote from Wikipedia:

"The Wikipedia article on greenbacks describes the situation in regards to bankers very differently:

"(quoting)

"During the Civil War, the banking interests did not want these notes to be a legal tender to pay the national debt, so the Senate depreciated the currency by putting an exception clause in, which allowed Government creditors to be paid in gold. Thaddeus Stevens, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee of Ways and Means which authored the original United States Notes bill to be a legal tender for all debts, viciously denounced the Senate's amended exception clause, calling the new bill 'mischievous' because it made United States Notes an intentionally depreciated currency for the masses, while the banks who loaned to the government got 'sound money' in gold. However, it appeared necessary to allow the banks the exception clause or perhaps there would have been no other way to fund the Civil War effort.

"(end quote)

" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Note "

Larry then writes:

"Note in the above that the bankers and creditors got paid in gold. It was the masses who got the depreciated 'greenbacks' during the Civil War. Perhaps your friend did not know all of the facts?

"I don't see exactly how this took power from the bankers. As I said earlier I think the greenbacks issued by the government under Lincoln during the Civil War were simply a necessary evil. As you have argued yourself Lincoln was focused on saving the Union. He allowed things to happen that would otherwise have been considered reprehensible if one didn't take into account the end he sought to accomplish, and in fact did accomplish.

"Perhaps you have just latched onto something that one of your heroes did without a full appreciation of the pros and cons?"

JJ:

Quite simple.

It took power from the bankers because the greenbacks were printed by the government and not private bankers. Lincoln this skipped the step of paying the bankers to print the money for the government and saved the country the interest normally charged for creating the money.

Of course other money remained in circulation and the new money was suspect by some, but it worked nevertheless.

Lincoln, who historians rate as our most intelligent and best president, loved the greenback concept and right up until the day he died planned on continuing it and using it as the means of introducing new money from that point on. Unfortunately standard gold thinking and banker supporting people took control after his death.

Copyright © 2008 by JJ Dewey, All Rights Reserved