The bankers are the most amazing phenomenon of humanity in my opinion because of what they have been able to perpetuate onto humanity. They have become so hubristic they just had to turn already massive leverage 20:1 into anywhere from 60:1 to 500:1 in some cases. They gambled so heavily to create the 2008 crisis they took the entire world down with them and left us and the economy in still in serious condition with further consequence likely. This may be the catalyst for monetary change but frankly I thought it would happen in 2008 and we simply gave them even more power after paying for their escapades. It is simply incredible.
The amazing thing is they really; really do feel they are doing God's work. You've heard of "The God Syndrome" about surgeons who perform miracles? That is exactly what many of these people suffer from now. They are the poster people for sociopaths. We need to change this and sane adults with understanding of human systems, the meaning of real freedom and a sense of justice unsurpassed in order to get this done.
Conclusion:
I would urge everyone to visit monetary.org for 2 things. First, you can find links to HR 6550 there. The AMI's proposal legislation (also here) is what HR 6550 is born from. Second you will find a link to a very scientific systems diagram a Japanese economist and systems professional has spent several years developing. It proves the massive dysfunction of the current monetary system and the elegant function of a public money system
It may not be very visible or obvious at first that the sustainability of earth is dependent on change to the monetary system, and probably isn't the only path but it is the fastest, most functional and least disruptive path and if we focus there it also becomes clearer with time how much sense this makes. It also helps to make sense out of it to read a list I've included at the end of this that outlines just how damaging the current system is and why. Additionally, implementing HR 6550 especially if circulation goes directly to individuals for their housing, education and other basic needs we set an example for the rest of the world, we are freer, our political systems are more just, and we have the real power we should in a democracy. This isn't an end all to be all. Quite the opposite -- it is just the necessity, the supreme imperative as I've called it before to allow the real work of sustainability to begin.
Here is good book review on this subject just posted that I came across just before posting. I intend to read the book: Book Review -- No More National Debt, by Bill Still
by Kent Welton
Here is a reprint from a monetary reformer outlining a few of the negatives of our current system. This may help us better see the connections that make monetary systems our first goal for system rebuilding. If we could get all the people who know something is terribly wrong and that know there is corruption in our corporatocracy and destructive collusion in our government and demonstrate this as our first rallying focus we could change the world very quickly by demanding to upcoming candidates that HR 6550 be passed then elect them to office. Right now the government is bought by people who are getting so aggressive in their distaste for average Americans they just don't even care that you know it. It is very much like declaring to the American people: "We own you because we own the government and what we say goes from now on". They aren't far from this. They flaunt it at congressional hearings by saying if government clamps down they will just move money elsewhere. They are arrogant and don't deserve any loyalty from us and neither do politicians who support them or take money from them and then lie to our faces.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) American Essayist & Poet
THE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES
OF THE DEBT-BASED MONEY SYSTEM
by Richard Greaves
Purpose, prosperity, November 2001
1) GOODS AND SERVICES ARE MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE
The cost of borrowing by producers, manufacturers, transporters, and retailers all has to be added to the price of the final product.
2) CONSUMERS HAVE MUCH LESS MONEY TO SPEND
They are burdened by the cost of mortgages, overdrafts, credit cards, personal loans and as a result of 1 and 2 above ...
3) THERE IS A SURPLUS OF GOODS AND SERVICES
... because the population can't afford to buy up all the goods and services being produced. This in turn creates ...
4) CUT THROAT COMPETITION
Businesses try to cut prices and costs to grab a share of this limited purchasing power in the economy, as illustrated by:
(i) Wages being held down as much as possible.
(ii) Shedding of jobs.
Both of these reduce people's spending power even more.
(iii) Retailers importing cheap products from abroad where wages are much lower.
(iv) Production of cheaper goods that don't last as long.
(v) Protection of the environment a low priority.
(vi) Mergers and take-over's -- corporations get bigger and bigger, driven to search out new markets.
(vii) Big companies shifting production to poorer countries which have cheap non-unionized labor and the least stringent safety and environmental laws or ...
(viii) Demanding large government subsidies and tax free incentives as the price for setting up new production or not relocating abroad.
5) INFLATION
- This is guaranteed because producers constantly have to borrow more, and must add the cost of that increased borrowing to the price of the goods produced.
- Why is it that when the bankers hike their prices (i.e. put up interest rates) this is supposed to reduce inflation?
- It doesn't. It's just that there's a delay in industry putting up prices.
- Initially, industry is forced to hold or even reduce its prices with its profits down, or even sustain losses, in a desperate bid to sell its products in an economy where the money available for spending has been reduced, because of higher interest payments being made to the banks.
- Inflation may be held in check or even reduced temporarily, but eventually industry must put its prices up in order to recover these higher costs.
- This most readily happens when interest rates come down, more people borrow, and money supply and consumer spending increases. Inflation then races ahead.
- The fact that -- in a debt based economy -- levels of borrowing/money creation have to keep on rising, and thereby adding to the overall burden of interest payments, guarantees that inflation will be present as long as we have an economy based on an increasing burden of debt.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
1
1
