Dear Federal Reserve,
Most people think money comes from a place that smells like metal and ink. A mint. A vault. A big room somewhere with gold bars stacked like confidence itself.
That’s a comforting story.
It just happens to be mostly wrong.
Here’s the quiet truth: about 98% of the money in circulation doesn’t physically exist at all. It lives as numbers in computer databases. Keystrokes. Ledgers. Digital promises. The coins and bills we touch? They’re a tiny fraction of the story, more like props than foundations.
Which means something unsettling follows.
Technically speaking, Monopoly money has the same intrinsic value as printed currency. Paper. Ink. Design. The difference isn’t material. It’s belief. We agree that one counts and the other doesn’t. And that agreement is what gives money its power.
This is what we mean by fiat currency. “Fiat” doesn’t mean fake. It means by decree. Money has value because we say it does. Because governments say it does. Because banks say it does. Because we all keep behaving as if it does.
And now, dear Federal Reserve, we arrive at your name.
You’re not federal.
You’re not a reserve.
You’re a for-profit banking system that creates money largely through debt. Money isn’t pulled from a vault; it’s issued into existence when loans are made. New money appears as obligation first. Owed before it’s owned. Interest attached before value is even experienced.
This isn’t a conspiracy. It’s just… architecture.
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Money isn’t backed by gold.
It isn’t backed by silver.
It isn’t even backed by physical scarcity.
It’s backed by trust, habit, enforcement, and belief.
And that raises a dangerous question we’re not answering yet, just whispering:
If money is a story we all agree to tell…
who benefits most from the way it’s written?
We’ll keep going.
Still counting carefully,
~ The Radical Left