Handwriting On The Wall

In those days, a unit of currency was a specific weight of metal just as, for a time in America, the ratio of dollars to gold was $20.67 to one ounce of gold. When the King is told that “you have been weighed in the scale and found wanting”, this refers to a common practice used to test the soundness of a coin: put it in a scale and compare it to a standard.

Throughout history, great empires have debased their currency, clipping coins and adulterating them in order to cheat the people. Nowadays, the Federal Reserve performs this same service for America – with much the same results: higher prices, redistribution from the rest of us to the 1%, increased centralization of power and increased dissatisfaction of the rest of us, and the famous boom/bust cycles.