provide markets with the fiat currency they need to function smoothly. Impossible for markets to finance governments? What about capital flight? I know what fiat means - but to suggest that government employees are the single most important pillar upholding global capital markets seems fairly far fetched to me. You would have to be very dedicated to the cause of government force to seriously believe that the current legal tender laws stance any chance of being sustained. It seems like you overestimate the importance/power/endurance of central banks - it might pay to remember the whole system is built on only some simple illusions previously sustainable only because of a dearth of information. May be worth repeating that yours is not necessarily a very contrarian view in this regard, perhaps even constituting the common norm amongst people, and sometimes the majority can be mistaken, remember, or even act foolishly... Perhaps you simply are a cheerleader for the practice of "instituting citizens into (legal) existence for the purpose of taxation". I wonder, do citizens only exist to pay tax? Is there any point to life other than paying tax, according to you? Please, don't respond! Don't worry, Frances, I won't comment here again until at least March, I promise! I feel like I am vandalising your learned space in some ways, knowing that you disagree with me... "They issue no binding legislation, but in the banking world, what they say goes" Applying unwanted force onto people who have not themselves applied unwanted