Page:David Atkins - The Economics of Freedom (1924).pdf/155

 If we add the visible stock of gold enumerated we get:

This gives us an apparent gold reserve of about 20% against our official gold obligations.

Owing to the undoubted basic solvency of the United States, as a healthy going-concern, in terms of land, stored effort and current effort, and owing to the taxing power that we hold through our political freedom, there is not the least need for alarm. But there is occasion for concern in regard to the distribution of this responsibility, since any sudden flare of political bad temper means that the units now owned by many of our citizens are again debased. A very grave doubt is held by the wage-earner, the producer and the manufacturer as to the erratic incidence of the inevitable taxation; since of the total amount enumerated not one ounce of gold is the unencumbered property of the community and the bulk of our obligations have still to be collected from the taxpayer.

Summarizing the figures above, the visible gold is as follows:

This is an imposing total; but does not alter the fact that the redeemability of our currency rests upon our ability to borrow from Peter to pay Paul. If Peter gets too ambitious and makes an advantageous loan to Germany, Paul is going to get panicky. But again it must be emphasized that there is no need to worry on this score. If Peter becomes too venturesome the Government will assert its power and exercise control. This means however that we openly admit our allegiance to the fiat money class. The “redeemability” of our obligations