Fiat Money - News, Updates, Images & Quotes

Fiat money is simply money backed by government's good faith and credit. If anyone messes with the government's and central bank's monopoly on money, the government has the power to put that group or person in jail for fraud and counterfeiting. Fiat money means all bills payable to the government, such as taxes, must be paid in that nation's currency. You cannot pay your taxes with chickens.

— Robert Kiyosaki; Rich Dad's Conspiracy of The Rich view

Historically, every time governments have printed their own money, fiat money, that money eventually reverted to its true value: zero. That's because paper money is a zero-sum game. Will the same happen to the U.S. dollar, the yen, the peso, the pound, and the euro? Will history repeat itself?

Now, I can hear many proud, red-blooded Americans saying, "This will not happen in America. Our money will never go to zero." Unfortunately it already has—many times. During the Revolutionary War, the American government printed a currency known as the "continental" After the government printed too many continentals, our money became a joke, giving birth to the phrase, "Not worth a continental." The same thing happened to the Confederate dollar. When I need a reminder of money going to zero, all I have to do is think about the woman fruit vendor in Vietnam and her aversion to the piaster. That was not that long ago. It's not ancient history.

Today, the entire world is running on Monopoly money. But what if the party is over? Will bailouts save us? Ironically, every time there is a bailout our national debt grows bigger, we pay more in taxes, the rich get richer, and our money's value edges closer to zero. Every time our governments print more money, our money becomes less valuable. We work harder for less and less, and our savings are worth less and less.

I am not saying today's Monopoly money will go to zero. I'm not saying it won't either. Yet, if history does repeat itself, and if the U.S. dollar goes to zero, the worldwide chaos will be cataclysmic. It will be the biggest wealth transfer in world history. The rich will get richer. And the poor will most definitely get poorer. The middle class will be wiped out.

— Robert Kiyosaki; Rich Dad's Conspiracy of The Rich view

When a currency changes its character from gold-receipt to fiat paper, confidence in its stability and quality is shaken, and demand for it declines.

— Murray Rothbard; What Has Government Done to Our Money? view

I am sanguine in the belief of the possibility that we may one day become a great commercial and flourishing nation. But if in the pursuit of the means we should unfortunately stumble again on unfunded paper money or any similar species of fraud, we shall assuredly give a fatal stab to our national credit in its infancy.

— George Washington; in a letter to Jabez Bowen, Rhode Island, Jan. 9, 1787 view

George Mason from Virginia told the delegates he had a "mortal hatred to paper money." Previously he had written to George Washington: "They may pass a law to issue paper money, but twenty laws will not make the people receive it. Paper money is founded upon fraud and knavery."

— G. Edward Griffin; The Creature From Jekyll Island view

The dictionary, therefore, needs a new definition. <em>Usury: The charging of any interest on a loan of fiat money</em>.

— G. Edward Griffin; The Creature From Jekyll Island view

When money is created out of nothing, the true interest rate is not 8% or 9% or even 22%, it is <em>infinity</em>.

— G. Edward Griffin; The Creature From Jekyll Island view

No bank can stay in business for very long with a zero reserve. The only way to make people accept such a worthless currency is by government force. That's what legal-tender laws are all about. The transition from fraction-reserve money to fiat money, therefore, requires the participation of government through a mechanism which is called a central bank.

— G. Edward Griffin; The Creature From Jekyll Island view

A nation that resorts to the use of fiat money has doomed itself to economic hardship and political disunity.

— G. Edward Griffin; The Creature From Jekyll Island view

Fiat money is the means by which governments obtain instant purchasing power without taxation.

— G. Edward Griffin; The Creature From Jekyll Island view

Thus, when governments issue fiat money, they always declare it to be legal tender under pain of fine or imprisonment. The only way a government can exchange its worthless paper money for tangible goods and services is to give its citizens no choice.

— G. Edward Griffin; The Creature From Jekyll Island view