BILL REQ. #: H-0221.1
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
Read first time 02/14/11. Referred to Committee on Business & Financial Services.
TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of
the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully
represent and petition as follows:
WHEREAS, There is an unprecedented need for Congress to pass
legislation to help protect American citizens against potential,
unprecedented losses in the value of take-home pay, retirement income,
insurance policies, and investments due to the recent large-scale
increases in the money supply by the Federal Reserve for the purpose of
bailing out large corporations, loans to foreign central banks, etc.,
by restoring gold and silver money in accordance with the Constitution,
then phasing out the Federal Reserve System and its inflationary paper
money, the Federal Reserve Note; and
WHEREAS, Our Founding Fathers were very familiar with the
disastrous consequences, such as sharp price increases and the loss of
wealth by most citizens, experienced by those colonies that had issued
paper money not backed by gold or silver; and
WHEREAS, Our Founding Fathers were very careful to craft a
Constitution that prohibits the issuance of paper money by either the
federal government or the states by including such statements as "No
state shall . . . make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in
payment of debts . . . " (U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 10),
and only empowering the federal government "To coin money, regulate the
value thereof, and of foreign coin . . . " (U.S. Constitution, Article
I, Section 8); and
WHEREAS, The U.S. Constitution designated the "dollar" as the
standard of value (U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 9, Clause 1
and the Bill of Rights, the Seventh Amendment), which was acknowledged
in the federal Mint Act of 1792 to be a silver coin containing 371.25
grains (troy) of pure silver; and
WHEREAS, Our national government's first experiment with an
unbacked paper currency, the Civil War-era "greenback," led to the
large-scale loss of wealth by U.S. citizens when they were paid with
"greenbacks," which had only about half of the value of gold-backed
notes; and
WHEREAS, The creation of the quasi-public, independent Federal
Reserve System by Congress in 1913 has led to our current monetary
system of a fiat paper currency, the "Federal Reserve Note," not backed
with either gold or silver since 1971; and
WHEREAS, The Federal Reserve System created a 3,000% increase in
the money supply (properly known as inflation) over the years 1959 to
2006 which led to an 89% loss in the purchasing power of our "Federal
Reserve Note" paper dollars (the classic effect of inflation) during
the same time period; and
WHEREAS, The Federal Reserve System has been greatly increasing the
money supply in recent years, and beginning with the financial crises
of 2008, undertaking to create additional trillions of dollars out of
thin air for bailouts with no end in sight, or as the New York Times
for November 26, 2008, put it, "The Federal Reserve and the Treasury
announced $800 billion in new lending programs on Tuesday, sending a
message that they would print as much money as needed to revive the
nation's crippled banking system."; and
WHEREAS, As a result of these recent, large-scale increases in the
money supply, we can expect unprecedented rounds of price increases and
economic dislocations in the future, leading to unprecedented losses of
the value of take-home pay, retirement income, insurance policies, and
investments by most citizens, and possibly ultimate economic chaos;
NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the
Congress of the United States, and particularly, the legislative
delegation to Congress of the State of Washington, use all of their
efforts, energies, and diligence to protect all the citizens of this
nation from potential, unprecedented losses in the value of take-home
pay, retirement income, insurance policies, and investments as a result
of the Federal Reserve's ongoing inflation of our unbacked paper money
by passing legislation (such as H.R. 2756 to repeal our nation's legal
tender laws, H.R. 4683 "The Free Competition in Currency Act of 2007,"
and H.R. 5427 the "Tax-Free Gold Act of 2008") to help restore gold and
silver money in accordance with the Constitution, then phasing out the
Federal Reserve System and its inflationary paper money, the Federal
Reserve Note (as in H.R. 2755).
BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately
transmitted to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United
States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of
Washington.