In early May, I won the Southern Wisconsin District Optimist Oratorical contest. I spoke on the monetary system, and the federal reserve. After winning, I gave my speech to about 100 people at the Optimist luncheon.
The first part of the speech is not in the video, so I have provided the text below:
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
If I were leader of the free world, the first issue I would address would be the monetary system.
This issue is far more important than any other. Why? Because it can make the difference between a flourishing economy, and a great depression. Money is the medium of exchange in the economy, and so, the stability of the money will have a strong influence on the stability of the economy. In this speech, I am going to talk about our current monetary system, its problems, and what I would do to fix them.
In 1913, the Federal Reserve was created in the United States. Despite the name "Federal," it is not in fact a government entity. The Federal Reserve controls the money supply of the United States. Likewise, other private central banks control the currencies of most of the other developed countries in the world.
The problems with the monetary system today are mainly based on the fact that the money has no inherent worth. Most currencies were at one time backed by gold or silver--something of value. But, this is no longer the case. The Federal Reserve took many steps to remove the backing, and today, the money is backed by nothing!
Print 
PDF