Ralph T. Foster: A Man Ahead of His Time

During my ongoing studies on various economic topics, I came across a reference to a book called Fiat Paper Money: The History and Evolution of Our Currency. I discovered that the author, Ralph T. Foster, owns a coin and stamp shop in Berkeley that my dad and I used to frequent when I was a child. I stopped by the shop a couple of weeks ago to pick up a copy of his book and had a brief chat with him. His interest in fiat currency, money that is backed by nothing tangible but the faith in government, stemmed from the time when the United States stopped using precious metals in coinage and removed the dollar from the gold standard. For his generation, this sudden fundamental economic change was very disturbing. His research has led him on an interesting journey on the history of money and currency that he originally published in 1991.

At the time of publication, his work did not receive much attention. We had been working for two decades with fiat currency and the United States had not collapsed. The deficit was only two to three billion. Some considered his work as a relic that governments had evolved past. Some experts back then indicated that the deficit would need to reach $10 trillion before the historic chain of events Mr. Foster chronicled could even happen here.

Well, we are now approaching forty years since the dollar became a fiat currency, run up a $14 trillion tab, and in the midst of an economic turmoil in which everything that the government has tried so far has not worked. Needless to say, Mr. Foster’s publication, recently updated to reflect the turmoil of the last decade, now has the attention of many more concerned Americans about where our economy is headed.

I have just finished reading the book and it is very disturbing to see the United States following the same path that every great past civilization has faced heading into oblivion. If our government does not stop its destructive spending habits, soon we might have money that looks like below. If you are tired of hearing and believing what the financial and political experts are telling you on how the economy will recover, I strongly suggest you pick a copy of Mr. Foster’s book and read it. You can order a copy from the link below, or buy a copy at Foster Coin and Publishing, 2189 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, California, 94704.

http://home.pacbell.net/tfdf/index.html

$100 Trillion Dollar Zimbabwe Note - Currency Abandoned 2009