stajer - 5:39 pm on Nov 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

Money is being created out of thin air and I think they will freely admit that to you. In the old days, the Fed controlled money supply by printing new money or destroying old money. These days they do it electronically through the overnight loans they make the Fed reserve member banks (BofA, Wells Fargo, etc).

The fed decides how much money should be available and changes the amount it loans accordingly.

It is no more a scam than paper money has been since it has been decoupled from gold and silver. At one point you could you dollar bill to the gov't and claim its worth in gold or silver. We haven't done that in years. Our money is backed by "the full faith and credit of the United States" (read your money!) AND the fact that we and most of the world buy that our currency is worth something.