The Bigger Picture
When our governments see that the people are refusing to play the money lender's game, are giving to each other rather than to a foolish government in the hands of the money lenders, they will be democratically forced to implement new official money systems (if they are going to get any more tax out of us!) that will bring total control of money back into the hands of the people where it should have been in the first place.
Bill Still points out in his excellent video, The Money Masters, that this can be achieved very easily by having the government issue its own currency, which is of course approved for the payment of tax and court fees. This immediately breaks the monopoly of the private banking system. The dishonest practice of fractional reserve banking can be rapidly phased out by increasing the new money supply in step with increasing the reserve requirement until it is 100% — essential for a fair system. After all, fractional reserve banking is a fundamental dishonesty, and no democracy can ever thrive on such a diseased foundation.
By having governments produce and control the money, we no longer have a debt based system, and the new economy that results would be far more stable because it would genuinely be run in the interests of the people. It would, therefore, not be open to the same manipulation that besets our current system; there would be far less opportunity for the few to underhandedly siphon off money from the masses, and this would reduce the gap between rich and poor — a prerequisite for a more peaceful and harmonious society. The tax burden would be significantly reduced as the whole system is more efficient, and as there would be less national and international political manipulation by bankers for profit (read: less wars), the ridiculous defence budgets could be slashed and money spent on important things like stopping ecological destruction and developing greener technologies.
Some people believe that the solution is to return to proper commodity money such as gold. Very often we hear radicals clamouring for the return of the gold standard. Whilst this has some merit — gold currencies are more resilient to collapse — we must not forget that the great depressions of the early 20th centuries occurred with money backed by the gold standard. With over three quarters of all the gold in the world in the hands of the banks (70% alone with the IMF), any money system based on this precious metal would still be open to considerable manipulation and control by these private banks. Just to get enough gold to set up the system in the first place would mean buying back gold from the money lenders, and you can be sure that they would sky-rocket the price when they realize what is happening, and then, when everything is running smoothly, collapse the price and reap the rewards of another depression. We cannot let them play the money game any longer.
It is much better to start afresh and have the government issue new fiat money to replace the old banking money.
"The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity."
— Abraham Lincoln
Further Information:
If you are interested in what has been written, it is essential that you get hold of a copy of Bill Still's fantastic video called The Money Masters. I cannot say enough about this video: it was the inspiration for this article and should be required viewing in our schools, colleges and community centres. You can purchase the video online at The Money Masters website. (Thank you to the makers of that video and to Shaheen who passed on a copy to me.)
Alternative Money System Links:
Local and Interest-Free Currencies — You don't get better than the great list of links on this page.
FAQ on the LETS system — Twenty answers to the most common questions asked on this particular alternative payment system.
LETSystem Home Page — Everything you need to set up your own LETS system.
LETS.net — Online service for Local Exchange Trading Systems worldwide.
LETS Link UK — One of the best UK LETS resource sites. Has some great regional listings.
LETS in Australia — The centre of online resources for LETS in Australia
John Turmel's Site — The Canadian radical who makes fantastic sense!
Transaction Net — Alternative payment systems on and offline.
Eco-Village Resources — Fantastic links for everything to do with the LETS system and how to set it up, including software for running it on the internet.
NOFED — New American currency called Liberty Dollars that is becoming increasingly popular. Liberty Dollars are 100% backed by gold and silver make it an inflation-proof currency. Worth a look if you are in the US.
Andrew Peterson is the editor of the on-line political magazine EnergyGrid, from which this article is a reprint. His articles have previously appeared at Unlikely 2.0 under the byline "by Andrew P."
Comments (closed)
James Chaffee
2008-07-12 12:24:27
You wrote:
Psychologically, it is important that we all, especially Americans, start thinking of money as a commodity and NOT a miraculous substance that can be created out of nothing by hard work and genius (only God and bankers have that power). This dangerous ideology of spontaneous creation is especially espoused by New Age and business motivation circles, and it serves only to blind us to the money scam that is being played all around us.
Now that is true but not the whole story. The reality is worse, actually. Because the debt issue, the interest payment, is bogus for government. The idea of supply-side economics now so popular with "conservatives" is predicated on just such creation of money from nothing. And actually, that is NOT the province of bankers. The Fed Reserve can only expand the existing supply, or make it easier or harder to get. It is the Treasury that actually creates it out of thin air, and this is the hidden premise behind supply-side economics.
The Treasury needs to pay bills, so it sells IOUs, true enough. But there are never enough buyers for the debt, so the Treasury sells them to the Fed which credits money to the Treasury accounts, thereby creating money (electronic money printing!) Now how much of this can be done is limited by law, so they use a subterfuge. There are private corporations that buy that debt and then sell it to the Fed for a commission, which is the cost of the lie that the debt is being sold to the public.
In essence, it is possible to print more money forever to keep paying the interest and debt, without ever taxing. Of course, that destroys the commodity which is the dollar. As we are seeing now.
The difference between Reagan's money printing excesses and Bush's is that Volker kept a lid on the freshly minted money, while Bush is passing it out like candy. For debt. So the banks will have a lot more slaves. Volker used a lot more than interest rates to do this, since interest rates are feckless. He contracted the supply by increasing the margin requirements, for example. Volker got creative in keeping the Reagan-money under wraps. Bernake is also getting creative in finding ways to let that money out into the world, also being aware that interest rates controlled by the Fed are meaningless when the Treasury can auction off debt, thereby taking away any Fed control over interest rates. Even Friedman pointed out that the Fed cannot control interest rates. In fact, interest rates are a bit of a red herring in all this. The real monster is the ability of the Treasury to create money out of thin air, and the willingness of "conservatives" to do this in the name of conservatism, while hiding the true nature of what they are doing: printing money.
Adam Smith, Daavid Hume and even old Milton Friedman are likely rolling over in their graves.