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The chief mechanism of inflation today is the ability of the Federal Reserve System to generate an endless stream of paper currency that: (i) is purportedly legal tender for all debts, public and private: and (ii) is not redeemable in gold, silver coin, or bullion. Amazingly, the supposed authority of Congress, under the Constitution, itself to issue irredeemable, legal-tender paper currency, or to delegate such a power to the Federal Reserve System, finds no basis in either the Constitution or even in any decision of the United States Supreme Court. Indeed, no challenge to these assumed powers has ever come to the Supreme Court for adjudication, let alone been adjudicated!

This study, prepared for the United States Gold Commission by Edwin Vieira, Jr., investigates what monetary powers and disabilities the Constitution contains, and the extent to which they deny Congress the authority to maintain the contemporary system of "fiat currency" that most Americans erroneously treat as "money".