Terrifying headline? Certainly so if you work for the Fed, or ever worked for the Fed. Yet, it is what is called for according to law.
Having experienced the harmful results of a paper currency manufactured at will, early US statesmen tried to forbid it from ever happening again. Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution specified that no state shall “make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts,” while the US Coinage Act of 1792, consistent with the Constitution, provided for a US Mint, which stamped silver and gold coins. One dollar was defined by statute as a specific weight of gold. The Act also invoked the death penalty for anyone found to be debasing money.[2]
So, how is it that we have live Fed officials and a central bank? For these answers and most of what else you need to know about the horror known as the Federal Reserve, read George Smith’s essay here .
If states can’t make anything except gold and silver legal tender, then the Federal Reserve notes that we call “dollars” are illegal currency. I am not aware of an amendment to the Constitution which would annul this.