alittlecandle

In response to the illusion that is money
Let me front load this article with the fact that Money as Debt was made in 2006 and since then it has been updated once and an all together new version has been released. You can visit the official site that represents the movie here.

I have to say this video weighed pretty heavy on my mind after I first saw it in early 2009. Some of this stuff I knew and some of it I had my own gut feelings about before seeing it. For example whenever I would hear in the news about national debts being measured in billions and trillions and hearing about massive credit debts of individuals I always wondered how that could be.

I find most of the quotes throughout the video very interesting. For example:

The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled.
John Kenneth Galbraith Economist

the money trap

I think this quote is very true. Who really thinks about where money comes from? As long as it shows up on a cheque and gets into a bank account no one really has an issue. But that is only one side of the coin; there is the whole debt issue. People gladly spend on credit cards and do not think of the consequences. Where does this money come from and why is it so redily available? If someone puts “free money” under a box propped up by a stick with a string tied to it, you should go the other way. Nothing is free and debt is leverage for the lender.

Here is where I get stuck and my brain starts to hurt.
The bank is privately owned, not by the government. The bank is in the business of producing and distributing money to governments to be used in worldwide economies. A good business practice would be to lend out the money, get paid back while making a return on the loan. Repeat the process and become monstrously rich. But that is not what’s happening. The bank has loaned out money in such a fashion that it can never be repaid. Does that seem like good business to you? I am left to assume that this is on purpose and a strategic part of their business plan. As the video explains when a loan is taken the only thing of value in the transaction is the collateral put up against the loan. So these astronomical debts are really giant points of leverage. Why else would they operate this way?

So here we are at the mercy of paper rectangles, metal circles and some numbers in a computer. It’s almost incomprehensible to me and no one thinks about it. Isn’t it also interesting that money is not really talked about in school at all until you go to post secondary?

Why debt = slavery
Once a sizable debt is taken on by an individual they are no longer in control of what they have. Someone is now legally allowed to be in your pocket taking whats yours plus interest. So here you are working to pay someone who does not know you, nor you know them. Debt also carries an amount of stress that varies with the size of the debt so your happiness is hindered. Is it not a scarey thought that the very people we borrow money from have the ability to manipulate the economy and money supply? If they choose we can lose our jobs and the means to pay back our debts. If this occurs we are at the mercy of their desires. That sounds like slavery to me.

This subject is a very large one and it is something I want to address from time to time. I will end this shortly because I could go on and on. My intent behind this post and the video is just to get you thinking. I want to leave it here with a few more quotes from the video and two pieces of scripture from the Bible.

This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash, or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money, we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible, but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defect remedied very soon.
Robert H. Hemphill, Credit Manager of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Georgia

________________________________________________

None are more enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
Goethe

________________________________________________

Money is a new form of slavery, and distinguishable from the old simply by the fact that it is impersonal, there is no human relation between master and slave.
Leo Tolstoy

________________________________________________

The rich rules over the poor and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
Proverbs 22:7 (ESV)

________________________________________________

Will your debtors not suddenly arise and those awake who make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them.
Habakkuk 2:7 (ESV)

*The words in bold are links to definitions if it will help put the verse in context.

It seems to me the Bible had this theory down a long time ago. Does this ring true with you at all with the current econmic crisis we are facing? We are being forced into more borrowing which only deepens the world’s plight in the hands of bankers. Indeed this is slavery. What other options are there?  Share your thoughts with me. Stay tuned for more on this subject. Thanks for reading.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 5:29 pm and is filed under money . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.