In 2013, AMAC—The Association of Mature American Citizens—took a big step with the creation of the AMAC Foundation, Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit entity designed to serve Americans. The Foundation’s mission is to help protect and ensure the financial security, health, and social lives of current and future mature Americans, and to help Americans navigate the bewildering array of decisions they need to make.
The Foundation’s projects and plans include providing factual information that improves understanding of the positive value of Social Security and Medicare and the current and long-term challenges these programs face, as well as providing interpretations by Certified Social Security Advisors through AMAC publications, workshops, webinars, podcasts, and telephone support.
In addition, the Foundation serves all Americans in a variety of capacities, including provision of a source of education on the principles of American Free Enterprise, long-term retirement financial planning, and preparing for life—and potential employment—after retirement.
We invite you to learn more about the Foundation and its operations at www.AmacFoundation.org
Gov. Christie, like 99.9% of elected officials in the U.S. does not understand the implications of being off the gold standard, domestic and international. Under a gold standard bank funding can’t be credibly guaranteed. In fact, fixed exchange rate regimes by design operate with an ongoing constraint on the supply side of the convertible currency. Gold is not in infinite supply. Banks are required to hold reserves of convertible currency, to be able to be able to meet depositor’s demands for withdrawals. Confidence is critical for banks working under a gold standard.
Under a fiat currency system like we have had since 1933 for domestic purposes and 1971 for international purposes, the Federal government NEVER needs to tax, “borrow” or enforce austerity to complete the act of spending. Why not? Because the government issues the currency by spending it into the economy as payment for goods and services sold to it by the private sector. Yes, the government must spend its fiat currency before it can tax. That logical operational sequence escapes Christie and most others who, wrongly, believe that the government is monetarily constrained to fund itself. It is not. All the government needs to complete the act of spending is a Congressional appropriation. And in some cases an appropriation is unnecessary. Bernanke, issued $29 Trillion to bail out the domestic and part of the international financial sector. Bernanke told Scott Pelley during a “60 Minutes” interview in 2009, ” … no it’s not tax money.” He said, ” … we use our computers to mark up checking accounts.” The U.S. can’t collect that much tax revenue in five years.
The point, is simply that there are no operational reasons to believe SS is a burden to the budget or that it is in danger of becoming insolvent. This fact is irrefutable. The SS Trust Fund is not a checking account. It’s simply a spreadsheet, a record of flows that have absolutely no bearing on the payments to pensioners, beneficiaries, etc. All of those payments are made from the Treasury’s General Fund Account, just like all other payments to fund the Federal government.
As long as this society is economically productive there is no threat of government insolvency unless Congress decides to withhold appropriations.
Gov. Christie would do well to request a briefing on the implications of America becoming monetarily sovereign and why deficit spending by the Federal Government is an absolute requirement if we are to avoid stagnation, recession and depression.