"Meet The System" (First Edition) Corrections to printed material:

8.22.07: The paragraph at the bottom of page 62 has a figure of "100" given where the correct figure should be "90." (The total money is $100, but the newly created money, based on a $10 deposit, is $90.) To simplify, I’ve taken the sentence out. The new edition will simply read:  

 

The fraudulent “fractional reserve” system continues to this day. However, unlike its earlier incarnations, the game is now more sophisticated (and far more profitable.) At least the pioneers of the scam kept some gold or silver asreserves to back their loans of new money (created out of nothing.) Today, the “reserves” that banks rely on to create new money have no intrinsic value whatsoever. In other words, where once a bank might issue paper money equal to ten times the value of the gold or silver coins they held in their vault; today there isn’t a single ounce of gold or silver backing our currency. Today, our paper money is created using nothing but paper and computer entries as reserves! There is no real money anywhere.  Even worse (yes, there is a “worse”) every dollar in circulation is inextricably tied to debt. What we’re forced to use today is WORSE than fiat money, it is debt money.

 

"Meet The System" (First and Second Edition) Corrections to printed material: 

8.23.08: The "Reform of Deposit Insurance Act" (effective January of 2007) gives the FDIC the power to assess membership fees based on risk. As such, the paragraphs on page 16 (dealing with FDIC fees) will be taken out pending further research.

 

"Meet The System" (First and Second Edition) Corrections to printed material: 

4.30.09: Note on the term Currency drain: Today, the term "currency drain" is almost always used to describe the removal of currency from the banking system and the loss of "excess reserves" that this causes. However, in the book the term is used to describe a problem that banks faced "Pre-Federal Reserve System." (Prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve System, it was not uncommon for reckless banks to "inflate deposits" far more than others. This invariably led to a "drain" on the reckless bank's currency, as described in the book.) To avoid confusion, I will probably change the term to "settlement drain" or "clearing drain" in future editions.