Site Reminder and Example


Posted originally on the CTH on August 10, 2023 | Sundance 

CTH was essentially founded because everyone seemed more comfortable pretending about the journey than admitting the destination.  From the outset, and with a long view of the challenges we would face, I have repeatedly stated that everything on this website is free for the taking.  We are rapidly approaching the point where everyone is going to realize why that cornerstone was set.

The truth has no agenda, it just sits there -out there somewhere- waiting to be discovered. Our feelings about it are irrelevant to its existence. The core of the assembly is to look deeply at uncomfortable things, then accept them as they are and not as we would wish/pretend them to be.  We are now on the cusp of full information control – a literal technological reengineering of the U.S. internet communication network as we know it.

As a direct result, the voices who put accurate context to our national challenge are going to be targets.  Information is now being categorized according to definitions of people who do not have liberty at the forefront of online communication. The categories of information are intended to stop information averse to the interests of a few powerful institutions.  Ten years ago, people would say such predictions were fringe conspiracies.  Now, with more evidence surfacing every day, notsomuch.

[Reddit Source]

Now perhaps you are beginning to see why that free information cornerstone was set. The truth has no agenda!

Everything you read and review upon these pages is free for the taking. Anyone, for any reason, can take any content I produce and use it to advance the honest effort of providing raw unfiltered truth to their audience.  Everything is available for use free, without any attribution or citation needed.

All that I provide is free and can be modified, changed, enhanced in part or whole to meet your needs. Images, writing, research, analysis, all of it is provided, along with no expectation of citation or attribution dependent on your motives and intents.

Make the words your own; use them in part or modify to make a more intelligent or comprehensive outline. All the accompanying graphics are available to use as would suit your interests. Importantly, all the research is cited and verifiable.  This includes all the pdf files, government documents, FOIA outcomes and uploads to the SCRIBD account.   Take anything you want; thanks, sincerely, but no need to ask permission.

We are not going to save this republic by demanding or restricting information via self-important perspectives on citation or attribution. I simply do not care about such issues. Make it your own in whatever manner or format fits your interests.

Please accept this reminder with the expressed intent.  If you are brave enough to stand in front of the furnace, you have my full and unwavering support and appreciation.  You are simply considered my brother or sister.  It’s ok, just take it. Anything provided here is yours to take, whole or in part and make it your own, as we work earnestly to deliver greater understanding to a larger audience.

Effective solutions require brutally accurate understanding.

I will always work earnestly to be deserving of your fellowship. As new visitors attest every day, the fellowship in this commenting community is unique, insightful, articulate, intelligent, funny and awesome.  I love you guys.

With humble appreciation and the warmest of regards,

Sundance]

Remember, we are inside every facility, every institution, every meeting, every moment of their existence – and we notice everything. We are there when they do not expect, and we melt away before they notice our appearance. We see what they hide, we hear what they whisper, we decipher their codes, and we understand the complexity they create in their effort to conceal.  We have allies and resources inside the core of the machinery.  We understand what and why everything is being constructed.

2021 -175 Million IP Addresses […] “Minutes before Trump left office, millions of the Pentagon’s dormant IP addresses sprang to life” was the title of a Washington Post article on Saturday. Literally three minutes before Joe Biden became president, a company called Global Resource Systems LLC “discreetly announced to the world’s computer networks a startling development: It now was managing a huge unused swath of the Internet that, for several decades, had been owned by the US military,” the Post said. (more)

The Left is Moving to Rig All Elections Everywhere


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Jun 30, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The LEFT is now totally out of control. Fearing that they may lose against Trump and that their BS charges are so obviously political, they are now looking to charge Trump with inside trading to make him a normal type of criminal, even though this is still all politically motivated.

In London, they have closed the bank accounts of Nigel Farage and his entire family because he is the face of the Reform Party. In Parliament, they accuse him of taking 500k from Russians, which he denies, and they refuse to show any evidence. This was the excuse used to shut down all his accounts and even his children.

This is the standard operating procedure. In my case, they stole my children’s saving accounts. They froze my mother’s accounts even her Social Security funds. When she called the bank, they gave her the number of Tancred Shiavoni lawyer of the receiver. My lawyers filed a letter to the courts that they then cut off all of my mother’s medicine, and she would die in the process. Then they claimed the bank made a mistake but I had no account at my mother’s bank.

There is ABSOLUTELY no rule of law anymore. Anyone who questioned our computer forecast for the last 8 years and that there may not even be a 2024 election in the United States or, at the very least, it will not be legitimate had better get their head out of the sand. Your freedom is gone. This is all about the Neocons having seized control, and they are out to utterly destroy Russia. They are now pushing to give Ukraine the long-range missiles so they can attack Moscow and start WWIII.

They have brainwashed King Charles, who started the Climate Change Clock in London to usher in the new age of totalitarianism. They will eventually create climate lockdowns which will really be to prevent civil uprisings that they know will lead to revolutions.

This is the dismantling of all freedom and above all the end of our right to vote on anything. We are too stupid and when the people elected Donald Trump, that is when Democracy suddenly became evil populism and they realized that they could be voted out of power. The solution – Climate Change to justify the end of all civil liberties and to end democracy once and for all.

Here is John Kerry also explains that democracy is populism when it votes them out of power and must be terminated.

The Real Hidden Agenda – It’s Time to take the Red Pill


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted May 30, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Martin,
I’m gay and I agree with you on this transgender drivel, especially letting male-born athletes compete in women’s sports. It is becoming scary for those of us who are just gay. We are being thrown in the same category as this transgender agenda. I too have been to Thailand. The Ladyboys in Thailand are numerous and are accepted in society. They are smart enough to not make a political issue of it as is taking place here in America.

As for your view of Trump as the only hope to save our politics, I profoundly disagree. I think he is arrogant and ignorant. He doesn’t care if what he says if it is true or not.

CP

REPLY: With respect to Trump, you have to separate the individual from the politics. I understand people hate Trump. The media have spread this BECAUSE he is a threat to the Washington political establishment. Nonetheless, not even Trump can stop the decline and fall of Western Civilization.

People get offended by his crude statements at times. But at least you know what he really thinks. Is it better for a career politician to say everything you want to hear and then look at you as a stupid fool and do the opposite?

I have worked in Washington. There is ABSOLUTELY nobody who is a career politician in either party who will really stand up for the people. They are under pressure all the time to conform to the unelected party bosses.

I have met many heads of state in my 40 years. I have said the truth. Trump was the ONLY such person who ever impressed me as actually being human. His statement that he wanted to bring our boys home from Afghanistan because he was tired of writing letters to their parents to thank them for their son’s sacrifice of dying for his country. He actually said what are we doing there? They are fighting over borders for a 1,000 years. What difference will we make?

No head of state EVER spoke about the people. It was always about their policy. I have come to see that we are just the pawns – expendable pawns at that. There are always more of us to come. They look down upon the people as stupid scum. This whole digital currency thing is to track everything we do.

So you may find Trump’s statement and his arrogance at times as distasteful. We will never find someone perfect. But all of this is irrelevant. For there is NOBODY coming on some white horse to save the day. Trump’s quality was that he was NOT a career politician and what he was doing was for his personal legacy from ending wars to building a wall to protect our borders.

So all I can say is to those who hate Trump so much, you better look closely at the others for they have nothing but contempt for you.


Back in the ’70s, I hired a death mute – Danny. He taught me sign language and we could communicate and laugh together. I had a major surgeon as a client and he said that he probably could restore his hearing. I offered to pay for everything for him and he declined. He was afraid to hear sounds. He grew up that way and was in his late 20s and did not want to change. He taught me that what I thought would be a generous offer was really just me thinking that normal was the ability to hear. We cannot judge others by ourselves.

One of our staff who is black, was rather upset about the whole Black Lives Matter movement. She explained that it was being usurped by non-blacks. There was clearly a strange agenda behind the curtain. Soros and his defund the police agenda was to create civil unrest and cause the country to get prepared for this one-world government.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg was the first woman to make it to the Supreme Court. She was an advocate for women’s rights. But she came out and explained that the entire Abortion Movement was a fraud. They called it women’s rights and have indoctrinated many women who passionately take that position. They have been cleverly manipulated by the Gates crowd and the Rockefeller Foundation for their real goal was to reduce the population. Gate’s father started the whole Planned Parenthood and placed them in minority areas to reduce their population on a racist basis.  Like his father, Gates has targeted Africa to reduce population.

Now, the total number of people who identify as Transgender is 1.6 million out of a population of 331.9 million (2021). That is 0.0048%. Now, how has this become such a major issue? There is absolutely NO WAY this Transgender group had the money or the clout to turn this into such a huge issue. Diving deep behind the curtain and you will find, just like abortion, it is being funded for the purpose of reducing the population – and has NOTHING to do with Pride or gay rights. They are being exploited just as women were told it was their right to have an abortion – kill that baby and save the planet.

This Transgender nonsense is in fact destroying the right of the Gay Community because they are being thrown in with this Transgender nonsense advocating changing children’s sex without parental knowledge all before puberty. Let’s get real here. This agenda is to promote the reduction in the population and has NOTHING to do with the Gay Community or their rights to inclusion and equality.

This is always the same strategy – manipulating society to achieve its undeclared goal be it war, politics, or women/transgender rights. It is like LIFE Insurance which is really DEATH insurance. They sell fire, accident, theft, and hurricane insurance. But they could not sell DEATH insurance so they called it LIFE insurance and people brag how much they have.

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Remember the lockdowns? The whole COVID nonsense was a scam to end commuting and terminate offices bringing in virtual work from home all to reduce gas consumption. That was also a manipulation of society for climate change – not for health. There are people still to this day wearing masks driving alone in a car. They have been mentally damaged by these tactics.

NOTHING is ever what it seems. We are the fools and they are always using sophisticated tactics to manipulate society to achieve objectives that they will never reveal.

It’s just time to take the Red Pill and wake up if you EVER hope to survive as a viable human being or take the Blue Pill and live in your fantasy that government actually cares about you.

The Fed Does Not Back Down


Armstrong Economics Blog/Interest Rates Re-Posted Mar 22, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Marty, it’s refreshing to have Socrates that is totally unbiased. It projected continued rising rates into next year and the Fed just proved its point. It is not backing down.

Thank you. Socrates is very enlightening.

GS

ANSWER: I know there were a lot of talks that surely the Fed had to lower rates and start QE all over again. Most of those sorts of comments have no real experience in markets. They just mouth a lot of hot air. Perhaps instead of putting masks on cows, we should do that on the shills. The Federal Reserve had no choice but to raise interest rates although it was just by a quarter point. Not to do so and the Fed would lose all credibility and the market would then not take them seriously.

You MUST understand that this crisis has unfolded because too many banks were wrapped up in WOKE culture and hired people who were UNQUALIFIED to run risk management. Some were more excited about cross-dressing as a woman and winning the Rainbow award in banking than actually protecting the bank from the risk of rising interest rates.

In a statement released at the conclusion of the meeting, Fed officials acknowledged that recent financial market turmoil is weighing on inflation and the economy, though they expressed confidence in the overall system. “The US banking system is sound and resilient.” They had no choice but to make this statement.

“Recent developments are likely to result in tighter credit conditions for households and businesses and to weigh on economic activity, hiring and inflation. The extent of these effects is uncertain.”

The Fed is saying that their rise in rates will in fact reduce inflation and economic activity. The banks have this yield curve risk and that is different from the 2007-2009 crisis where the debt was based on fraud. Here, the debt is US Treasuries so they are not going bankrupt from that aspect, but it is a liquidity crisis.

If these people who scream loudly but know nothing really about finance keep up the nonsense, they will only add to the uncertainly. This inflation is accelerating thanks to the war.

The Coming War


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Feb 13, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT:

Hi Marty,

As it appears the US is marching toward war, what is notable this time, unlike what happened in the run-up to US participation in WW2, was the sense of isolationism in this country. Roosevelt was clearly walking a fine line, knowing there was no stomach for US involvement in Europe. US involvement in WW1 also started out similarly with many in the US, in particular those of Irish descent who opposed helping the British in their battle in Europe. Wilson, another Democrat, also walked the straight and narrow, professing neutrality which history shows was a lie. Later, his 14 points, the forerunner to an imposed peace on Germany, would backfire. The League of Nations would die off.

But today, unlike the prior two world wars, both democrats and republicans appear to embrace an escalation in conflict. And with an old, decrepit mannequin in the WH, it looks like there’s nothing stopping this push toward war. Republicans especially are a total disgrace. They stabbed Trump in the back repeatedly or let him twist in the wind for 4 years and for the first two when they were the majority party…did little to show their one chance to lead. Trump did more for peace than any president since Kennedy. Trump at least tried to engage Xie, met with the North Korean leader and focused more on building up the US domestic economy. He tore up US participation in these climate pacts. He focused on building the wall to stem the flow of illegals crossing the border. Her met with the Mexican president and forced his counterpart to accept an arrangement that kept illegals inside Mexico pending and petitions later to the US government for entry based on their applications.  And for all this, he was the target for a fraud based on collusion to get elected with Russian help. Which turned out to be baseless. Later, he was implicated in the Jan 6 insurrection…courtesy of both parties. Which itself was a total fabrication.

Both Dems and R’s are now marching lockstep toward war. It’s no wonder public opinion toward the government is sinking to all-time lows. In both parties. Both of which will be swept away in the years ahead for betraying this country on so many levels.

MS

REPLY: Hillary, started this whole mess by launching the fake dossier and blaming Putin for interring in the election. She managed to convince 70% of Democrats that Russia was the enemy. RussiaGate, despite being discredited, set in motion this hatred for Russia. Still, 65% of Americans support Ukraine when in fact what they are doing is relying on a border drawn by Kruschev for administrative purposes and demanding that the Donbas is their territory when NEVER for even a single day have Ukrainian people ever been the majority in that region. This is a land grab and nothing more that is engulfing the entire world all because our idiot politicians want to destroy the world economy so they can blame it on war and default on all the debt.

I get hate mail and death threats from Ukrainian Nazis pretty regularly now. This only shows that we are historically on the wrong side. In WWII, we fought against the Nazo movement. This time, we support ethnic cleansing.

Americans fled here to escape the political chaos and warmongering in Europe. So when WWI and WWII took place, the American people saw no reason to go support a political movement that they had fled. Indeed, FDR’ solemn campaign promise was no boys would be sent to fight in a foreign war. That is why he did everything possible to get Japan to attack Pearl Harbor for that was the ONLY way to overcome the anti-war position of Americans. They have done the same to get Russia to act to protect the Donbas from the Ukrainians who began the civil war.

FDR repeated that solemn promise in Boston which was predominantly Irish. They refused to defend Britain openly recalling what the English did to the Irish. That was why FDR needed Japan to attack Pearl Harbor. Today, they needed Russia to launch its special operation which was absolutely legal under the United Nations Rules for he was protecting the Donbas, not seeking to conquer Ukraine.

All of those memories of past wars are long gone. Today, we cheer on war because we think it will be like watching Iraq on CNN after nightly dinner. As they say:

Stirring the Pot For War


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Jan 9, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Many people have written in and asked why have I been unable to convince governments to avoid war. Quite frankly, they think they can win and more importantly, they need this because the entire socialistic system is collapsing. They rely on people buying their bonds year after year with no intention of paying anything back. This is just our time to collapse the same as communism collapsed in 1989 in China and Russia. We have run our course and the clock is running out of time. This is the 34th year since 1989. Socialism will collapse. It has no other choice here in 2023.

I have received videos from Ukrainian soldiers who are threatening to go after Zelensky. I was not given permission to post them so I do not want to get anyone in trouble. They are dying in far greater numbers than the rigged press is reporting and they are freezing.

Strategically, the US is attempting to create the Asian version of NATO aligning with Japan and the Philippines to rely on their soldiers to fight China. Meanwhile, in China, there is absolutely no question that they are preparing to take Taiwan and I believe this was accelerated by the Biden Administration (1) abandoning the one-China policy maintained since Nixon and allowing Pelosi to fly to Taiwan just ahead of the elections in China which was an absolute brain dead stunt. Consequently, China is gearing up for military action to take control of Taiwan because the Biden Administration has actually called their bluff. President Xi Jinping secured a historic third term last year and has made it clear he plans to retake Taiwan. Pay attention in May.

Meanwhile, with respect to North Korea, we would have to take into account their 1.2 million-man Korean People’s Army, which is organized into nineteen corps-sized units, including nine infantry corps, four mechanized corps, one armored corps, one artillery corps, the Pyongyang Defense Command, Missile Guidance Bureau and Light Infantry Instruction Guidance Bureau. More than half of these forces, particularly the mechanized, armor, and artillery forces are located near the DMZ, making an early cross-border assault unattractive. Kim and Putin have come to an agreement and will support each other. On the 72-year anniversary of the Koren War when they prevailed against the United States, Kim condemned “aggression moves” by Washington and Seoul, vowing to take revenge at a time of rising tension on the Korean Peninsula. Here too, it appears that Kim is preparing for war against at least the South and possibly expanding into Japan – a hated enemy.

The Middle East is heating up with Iran preparing for war against Saudi Arabia. This has prompted even Israel and Saudi Arabia to consider a joint defense agreement. Meanwhile, Iran and Russia have come together to also form an alliance. We may also expect that Syria will join on the side of Russia in the Middle East.

Looking at Iran just from the 1979 confrontation taking American hostages, the turning points for the last three waves, which are always the most intense, lined up with the 2014 turn on the Global War Model. The next wave was November 3rd, 2022 and here we see widespread civil unrest. In fact, the United Nations called it a critical situation on November 22nd, 2022.

The world is dumbfounded as to why in the hell we have world leader cheering war on every continent. I put forth a solution, some did not like it, but there is no other way out of this other than Schwab’s “Great Reset” which is really all about defaulting on all the national debts, the end of socialism, and the push for a one world government to end democracy so government retains power. Under my solution, the government would relinquish power. They did not like that. Schwab’s way leaves it necessary to create World War III, reduce the population escapes the pension liabilities, and start over with a new Bretton Woods II.

In 2008, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in calling for better regulation of global financial markets.

“We urgently need what you might call the ‘new Bretton Woods,’ so that we can restore confidence in the system while dealing with the areas that have been exposed in recent weeks.”

I posted this video 5 years ago. It has only gotten worse.

18th Century Copper Riots & Private Money


Armstrong Economics Blog/Civil Unrest Re-Posted Jan 6, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

During the reign of King George III (1760–1820) the first issue of halfpennies actually was not issued until 10 years after his accession to the throne in 1770. Consequently, the vast number of halfpennies in circulation were actually all counterfeits. Indeed, counterfeiting became rampant at first because there was a coin shortage. In 1771, it was declared that counterfeiting copper coins were to be a serious crime. Nevertheless, this really made no difference. Over the course of the next twenty years, the majority of copper coins in circulation were forgeries. Even in the American Colonies, a favorite pastime was to counterfeit British halfpennies.

Coppers of this type are thought to have been minted from mid-1787 through 1788 and probably into 1789. Interestingly, it appears Thomas Machin first produced halfpence dated to the contemporary year as well as examples backdated to 1778. As the mints in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Vermont failed, their equipment ended up at Machin’s Mills. Along with imitation British halfpence, Machin’s Mills also produced illegal Connecticut coppers and some legal Vermont Coppers, with most of their Vermont coins being struck over counterfeit Irish halfpence. The illegal coining operation continued at Machin’s Mills until around early 1790, which was longer than any of the legal mints in New England.

John Adams wrote to John Jay on April 10. 1787

“There is a vast sum in Circulation here of base Copper: to the amount of Several hundreds of thousands of Pounds. very lately these half Pence are refused every where: I suppose in Consequence of some Concerted Scheme. and it is supposed that they will be all purchased for a trifle and Sent to the United States where they will pass for good metal, and consequently our Simple Country men be cheated of an immense sum.2 The Board of Treasury, may be ordered with out the avowed Interposition of Congress, to give the alarm to our Citizens. and the seperate States would do well to prohibit this false Money from being paid or received.3

There was religious tension in Britain that still lingers to this day against Catholics. The Gordon Riots of 1780 took place over several days instigated by the anti-Catholic sentiment that again erupted with the passage of the Papists Act of 1778. That was an attempt to reduce official discrimination against British Catholics with the first legislation of the Popery Act of 1698. At the time, Lord George Gordon was the head of the Protestant Association. He argued that the law would enable Catholics to join the British Army and once in they would then use the army to plot treason. The protest became the excuse to burn people’s possessions, engaged in widespread rioting and looting, and they even used the opportunity to attack both Newgate Prison and the Bank of England. This was by far the most destructive riot in the history of London.

alexis-i-copper-riot-1662

From the mid-1600s, the world money supply was increased largely with copper coins. Russia, in particular, began to overvalue the copper coins. Money is always fiat for its value is typically dictated by the government. Overvaluing copper as in the 17th and 18th centuries, led to the same trend of overvaluing silver during the 19th century. The result of this monetary manipulation by the Russian government led to what became known as the Copper Riots of 1662.

The Russian government began producing copper coins and monetizing them to be of equal value to silver Kopek currency with an average weight of about half of a gram to meet expenses during the mini-Ice Age. The effort failed and silver vanished from circulation as people began hoarding them causing the entire economy to collapse. The copper money was naturally devalued in purchasing power and then there were widespread counterfeiting operations since the official value of the copper coinage became far in excess of the cost of production. The economy collapsed into a deflationary black hole as businesses shut down and unemployment rose dramatically. This erupted into what has become known as the Copper Riots of 1662.

The German bankers, the Fuggers, emerged as the leading Augsburg merchant-banker, who then provided loans to local rulers secured with the silver produce of their mines. The discovery of vast silver mines eventually led to the development in 1525 of the one-ounce silver coin that was the thaler from which we derive the name “dollar” as the alternative to the British pound after the American Revolution. The Joachimsthaler of the Kingdom of Bohemia was therefore the first thaler ideally with a weight of 31 grams or one troy ounce.

copper-panic-1662

As the silver mines were declining, the decline in the supply of silver led to the rise of copper coinage during the next century. This was not an isolated incident confined to Russia. There was a shortage of precious metals going into 1662. It was most profound in Russia. Nevertheless, the price of gold rose sharply from the low of 1655 in a 7-year bull market. This also reflected the deflationary atmosphere that was emerging thanks also to the mini-Ice Age which was peaking during the 17th century yet would last well into the mid-19th century.

It was Spain’s silver mine known as the great red Cerro Rico or ‘Rich Hill’ that towered over the city of Potosí in Bolivia. It had been mined since 1545 by drafted armies of natives. The great silver boom of c1575-1635 was when Potosí alone produced nearly half the world’s silver. But the mine’s yield was starting to decline. By 1678, native workers became scarce and the output of the mines began to dwindle. This was the royal mint that produced vast amounts of ‘pieces of eight’, which became the precursor of the American dollar. The shortage of labor ended up being augmented by purchasing African slaves from the Dutch who were buying them under the pretense that they were the spoils of war, which had been the justification for slaves from ancient times.

As the quantity of new silver in the world monetary system was declining, we begin to see the rise of copper coinage make its first appearance under James I of England (1603-1625). Due to a shortage of small coins, James I authorized John Harrington to issue tin-coated bronze farthings in 1613, and three main types were minted – the last being a slightly larger copper farthing without the tin coating. The first halfpenny was introduced in 1672 by Charles II (1660-1685). Charles II issued some copper halfpennies and farthings in 1672 for a single year but issued farthings again in 1873. The next issue of a farthing was struck in a tin but during 1684 and 1685.

However, in 1694 the Bank of England was established to raise money for King William III’s war against France. The Bank started to issue notes in return for deposits. Therefore, the money supply for the first time began to include paper currency. By 1695 the first fraud took place. The authorities prosecuted Daniel Perrismore for forging sixty £100 notes. This incident caused the Bank of England to introduce a watermark in the paper to prevent such fraud. This was further enhanced by making counterfeiting subjected to the death penalty as a felony resulting in the confiscation of all your wealth and throwing your family out of the street as well. Pictured here, is a protest imitation note. The law was being prosecuted on the mere possession of a forged note. The complaint here was that these one-pound notes were easily forged and innocent people were duped, thereby committing a felony by mere possession. They were being hanged with no proof that they created the forgery – merely that they possessed one. This was creating an incentive not to even accept the notes in transactions.

George I, II, and III all issued copper halfpennies. George III’s halfpennies were dated 1770 to 1772. The economic hard times no doubt contributed to the riots of 1780. After those events, at Newgate Prison in March 1782 a female alleged counterfeiter of halfpennies was hanged. She was then fixed to a stake and burned before the debtor’s door at Newgate prison in London as a further example of not to counterfeit.

In a letter to Lord Hawkesbury on April 14th, 1789, Matthew Boulton, who is considered the Grandfather of modern coinage,  commented

“In the course of my journeys, I observe that I receive upon average two-thirds counterfeit halfpence for change at toll-gates, etc., and I believe the evil is daily increasing, as the spurious money is carried into circulation by the lowest class of manufacturers, who pay with it the principal part of the wages of the poor people they employ”.

Boulton’s contract in 1797 to produce the Cartwheel pennies and twopences, thwarting the counterfeiters, did not extend to producing the halfpenny, though Boulton had expected that it would, and had prepared patterns of the appropriate size and weight in accordance with his ideas on the intrinsic value of copper coins. The reason the government gave for the omission of the denomination from the contract was that a large number of de facto halfpennies (including tokens and fakes) would be driven out of circulation and Boulton would be unable to produce enough coins to meet the demand that would ensue.

To avoid being hung for counterfeiting and burned at the stake, there was a multitude of halfpenny tokens. Many were of a political nature as this one complaining about the cost of bread. The government yielded to the private halfpenny tokens which became the majority of the small change. The overall public demand for legal halfpennies soon forced the government to change its mind, and in 1798 a contract was issued to Boulton for him to produce halfpennies and farthings dated 1799.

Interestingly, it was also at this time when inflation sent the price of copper rising, and consequently, the weight of the coins was reduced slightly, which resulted in them not being as popular as expected. In 1806 a further 427.5 tons of copper was struck into halfpennies by Boulton, but the price of copper had risen again and the weight was even less than the 1799 issue. This time, however, there was no unfavorable reaction from the public, so perhaps the national obsession with “intrinsic value” had run its course.

This was a very curious period where private money dominated the money supply for halfpennies. There are other periods where this has emerged in history primarily due to the shortage of real official money. One of the earliest such periods was during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius (14-37AD).

Tiberius was legendary to be a frugal emperor. His deliberate contraction in creating new money led to the Financial Panic of 33AD. As far as Quantitative Easing, that too was nothing new. Tiberius offered loans INTEREST-FREE, but they had a limitation of three years. This was to prevent people from being forced to sell their estates further depressing land values.

There was a major earthquake in Asia, modern Turkey, and this was so devastating, he issued coins stating they were for the relief of Asia. He also waived all taxes in the region for 5 years – something our modern-day politicians would never dream of.

The lesson from history reveals that at times there emerges the acceptance of private money. During the 1870s, we also see private tokens circulating as money in the United States. Collectors call them the Hard Times Tokens. The very same thing took place during the American Civil War.

During the Great Depression, the shortage of money led to more than 200 cities issuing their own paper currency. As long as everyone in town accepted it, these Depressions Scrips enable people to work and to be paid locally when there was simply not enough federal money to go around.

During the Hyperinflation in Germany of the 1920s, there again we see private currency being printed known as NOTGELD. Therefore, in the end, when the confidence in government declines, society is compelled to return to a barter-based society and that is when we begin to see private forms of money take hold.