Does the American government pocket more and more of my money, or is it just happy to see me? The United States government steals money from us daily without our consent, and, for the most part, without our knowledge. Some call it stealth taxation, others refer to it as inflation. I call it downright government thievery by those in power, and, unfortunately, it will continue to soar at unprecedented rates unless we stop it.

Inflation is a result of our government printing money for the purposes of funding wars, supporting large social programs or, like now, covering our out-of-control deficit spending. As we print more money, the value of the dollar drops and prices rise.

Have you noticed that money doesn’t go as far as it once did? It now takes two incomes to run a household, good-paying jobs are difficult to find, and seniors are working longer and retiring later. It wasn’t always this way. Until 1914, our dollar was pretty stable because the value of the dollar was tied to the gold standard, and the government couldn’t print money at will. American people had the power and kept a greater portion of their earned money.

However, under the guise of protecting Americans and our money, the Federal Reserve was created in 1914, maintaining the ability to print money when needed. Under that system, the government has the power…and steals our money, which they consider theirs to spend, at will. I’m sure we all have learned, that when the government does something in secret, it’s not good for our fellow Americans. In 1913 six New York billionaires, under the pretext of a duck hunting trip, secretly met on a private island, called Jekyll Island, off the coast of the state of Georgia. There they developed a banking cartel, or a central bank, known as the Federal Reserve, which Progressive President Wilson signed into law. The Federal Reserve consists of twelve regional banks and a Board of Governors, appointed by the President, which controls and directs the flow of money. It is basically a partnership between the government and banks, nothing more than a cartel, like an oil or sugar cartel, wherein large corporations come together to limit competition and preserve their own profits without any audit or congressional oversight. It’s a Jeffersonian nightmare, placing more power in the hands of the Federal government.

Before this, the Federal government could not print money at will, because our dollar was tied to the gold standard. The gold standard was introduced in 1834 and worked well for years. Lincoln went off the gold standard to finance the Civil War; in fact, each time the U.S. goes to war, it issues money and lowers the value of the dollar. Increasing our money supply has the same effect as raising taxes. Let me repeat that. Increasing our money supply has the same effect as raising taxes.

In 1971, Nixon abandoned the gold standard, expanding both the Federal government and the money supply, a deadly mix. Without the gold standard the Federal Reserve had power–total control over the flow of dollars promoting stealth taxation. Since 1971, the dollar has been devalued, and the costs of goods and services increased more than 500%. Our deficits are currently higher than at any time in history, and our Government is prolifically printing money to pay our debt. Unless we want the government stealing more of our money and placing it in their pockets, we have to go back onto the gold standard, take back our power and keep our own money.