"The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin. Bankers own the Earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough money to buy it back again.

"Take this great power away from them and all great fortunes like mine will disappear, and they ought to disappear, for then this would be a better and happier world to live in. But if you want to continue to be slaves of the banks and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit."

― Sir Josiah Stamp

SAGREDO: Ah, that provides little solace. Pray tell, who in their right mind would traverse the market with a half ounce seeking a cart load provisions? Including the cart!

SIMPLICIO: Truly, how am I to procure a simple loaf of bread when burdened with the weight of half an ounce of gold? Such a cumbersome transaction!

SALVIATI: Allow me to enlighten you with the concept of "fungibility."

Thanks a ton to npub18ams6ewn5aj2n3wt2qawzglx9mr4nzksxhvrdc4gzrecw7n5tvjqctp424 for excellent support. I did a bad copy/paste to NostrPlebs.com and graciously put his time into debugging.

Now I have my blue checkmark!

SALVIATI: You have not made a case against gold. There are sufficient quantities for all.

SIMPLICIO: Sagredo just told you. How can one yacht's worth of metal provide liquidity to the whole planet?

SALVIATI: Even if there were 10 billion souls on the planet, there would still be more than one half ounce per person.

SAGREDO: I agree that there is enough gold for all, but that does not mean that it is a valuable thing. Gold is a heavy, soft, and unreactive metal. It is not very useful for anything other than making jewelry and coins. In fact, gold is so useless that it is often used as a symbol of wealth and status.

SAGREDO: I believe that there are many things that are more valuable than gold. For example, knowledge, health, and love are all more important than gold. These things cannot be bought or sold, and they cannot be taken away from us.

SAGREDO: I would rather have knowledge, health, and love than gold. These things are what make life worth living.

SALVIATI: What makes you think that there is not enough gold to go around?

SIMPLICIO: Seriously? When is the last time you saw any gold?

SAGREDO: He has a point there. Gold is simply inadequate to serve as money. Besides the unstable volatility in price, the masses could never get their hands on it. All of the gold in the world could fit in one of Murdoch's yachts.

Simplicio: Banks help the common man stand up against the corporations. Without fractional reserve lending there would never be enough money to go around. I could never afford to buy a car.

Salviati: Banks used to have 100% reserves. Money used to be gold.

Simplicio: Yo, listen to me old man! There's not enough money to go around. There's SO not enough gold to go around!

Simplicio: It's no surprise that Salviati advocates for such a barbarous system. Salviati, you always have an axe to grind and try to poke The Man in the eye. You just try to stir things up and draw attention to yourself. Us regular folks must be wary of taking anything you say seriously.

Sagredo: Indeed.

Sagredo: Why would anyone waste their time with #alchemy? It's a fool's errand.

Salviati: Not if you succeed.

Sagredo: But it will never succeed. You can't turn lead into gold.

Salviati: I already told you. The #alchemy in place is vastly more successful then that.

Simplicio: Well, spill the beans already.

Salviati: Let's start with banking. How do banks work?

Simplicio: Banks are here to protect our wealth. They provide financial stability and stimulate economic growth. The central bank is necessary to maintain a stable currency and ensure a smoothly functioning economy.

Sagredo: Go on.

Simplicio: Fractional reserve banking is a necessary tool for creating credit and promoting investment, allowing individuals and businesses to obtain funding for new projects and expand their operations. The system has been in place for centuries and has contributed to the growth and prosperity of societies worldwide.

Several years ago there was published on Jekyll Island a salutary edict which, in order to obviaie the dangerous tendencies of our present age, imposed a seasonable silence upon the Constitutional mandate that money is gold and only gold. There were those who impudently asserted that this decree had its origin not injudicious inquire, but in passion none too well informed. Complaints were to be heard that advisers who were totally unskilled at monetary observations ought not to clip the wings of reflective intellects by means of self-serving prohibitions.

Upon hearing such carping insolence, my zeal could not be contained. Being thoroughly informed about that prudent determination, I decided to appear openly in the theater of the world as a witness of the sober truth.

Simplicio: Why are you so paranoid? You just have an urge to make up a "conspiracy" to make yourself feel important.

Salviati: I am going to explain the #alchemy to you.

Sagredo: You want to figure out how to turn lead into gold?

Salviati: Much better than that. But I am not going to invent the method. It has already been invented. In fact, it has already been implemented.

Sagredo: You can't eat gold.

Simplicio: You totally can't eat bitcoin. Yo, you can't even see it!

Salviati: You can eat fiat paper?

Other than that, it's as good as "money in the bank." 😆