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Transcript for Money As Debt

Time Content
00:17 → 00:21

Some of the biggest men in the United States,

00:21 → 00:24

in the field of commerce and manufacture

00:24 → 00:26

are afraid of something.

00:26 → 00:29

They know that there is a power somewhere

00:29 → 00:31

so organized, so subtle, so watchful

00:31 → 00:33

so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive

00:33 → 00:35

that they had better not speak above

00:35 → 00:39

their breath when they speak in condemnation of it."

00:39 → 00:43

Woodrow Wilson, former President of the United States.

01:01 → 01:03

"Each and every time a bank makes a loan

01:03 → 01:05

new bank credit is created - new deposits, brand new money."

01:05 → 01:08

Graham F. Towers - Governador, Banco do Canada, 1934-54

01:09 → 01:14

"The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled"

01:14 → 01:18

- John Kenneth Galbraith - Economist

01:19 → 01:23

"Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws."

01:23 → 01:26

- Mayer Anselm Rothschild - Banker

01:31 → 01:35

Money as Debt

01:38 → 01:46

Debt

01:49 → 01:52

Two great mysteries dominate our lives.

01:52 → 01:53

Love and Money

01:53 → 01:58

What is love? Is a question that has been endlessly explored in stories,

01:58 → 02:01

songs, books, movies and television.

02:01 → 02:06

But the same cannot be said about the question; What is Money?

02:06 → 02:11

It's not surprising that monetary theory hasn't inspired any blockbuster movies.

02:11 → 02:16

But it was not even mentioned at the schools most of us attended.

02:16 → 02:19

For most of us, the question: "Where does money come from?"

02:19 → 02:23

brings to the mind a picture of the mint printing bills and stamping coins.

02:23 → 02:27

Money, most of us believe is created by the government

02:28 → 02:29

It's true!

02:30 → 02:32

But only to a point

02:32 → 02:36

Those metal and paper symbols of value we usually think of as money

02:36 → 02:41

are indeed produced by an agency of the Federal Government called the "The Mint".

02:41 → 02:43

but the vast majority of money is not created by "The Mint"

02:43 → 02:52

It is created in huge amounts, every day, by private corporations known as BANKS.

02:53 → 02:59

Most of us believe that banks lend out money has been in trusted to them by depositors.

02:59 → 03:02

Easy picture, but not the truth

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In fact banks create the money they loan, not from the banks own earnings

03:06 → 03:08

not from the money deposited,

03:08 → 03:11

but directly from the borrowers promise to repay.

03:11 → 03:14

The borrowers signature on the loan papers

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is an obligation to pay the bank the amount of the loan plus interest.

03:17 → 03:22

or loose the house, the car, whatever asset is pledged as collateral

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That's a big commitment from the borrower.

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What does the same signature require of the bank?

03:30 → 03:33

The bank gets to conjure into existence the amount of the loan

03:33 → 03:35

and just write it into the borrower's account.

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sound far fetched?

03:37 → 03:40

Surly that can't be true. But it is!

03:45 → 03:50

To demonstrate how this miracle of modern banking came about

03:50 → 03:52

consider this simple story:

03:52 → 03:54

"THE GOLDSMITH'S TALE"

03:54 → 03:58

Once upon various times pretty much anything was used as money.

03:58 → 04:02

It just had to be portable and enough people had to have faith

04:02 → 04:07

that it could later be exchanged for things of real value, like food, clothing and shelter.

04:07 → 04:12

shells, cocoa beans, pretty stones, even feathers have been used as money.

04:12 → 04:17

gold and silver were attractive, soft and easy to work with,

04:17 → 04:20

so some cultures became experts with these metals

04:20 → 04:24

Goldsmith made trade much easier by casting coins

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standardized units of these metals whose weight and purity were certified.

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To protect his gold the Goldsmith needed a vault

04:32 → 04:35

and soon his fellow townsmen were knocking on his door

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wanting to rent space to safeguard their own coins and valuables.

04:39 → 04:44

Before long the Goldsmith was renting every shelf on the vault

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and earning a small income from his vault rental business.

04:47 → 04:52

Years went by and the Goldsmith made an astute observation.

04:52 → 04:56

Depositors rarely came in to remove their actual physical gold;

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and they never all came in at once.

04:58 → 05:01

That was because the claim checks

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the Goldsmith had written as receipts for the gold

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were being traded in the market place, as if they were the gold itself.

05:07 → 05:11

This paper money was far more convenient than heavy coins.

05:11 → 05:13

and amounts could simply be written

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instead of laboriously counted one by one for each transaction.

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Meanwhile the Goldsmith had another business.

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He lent out his gold, charging interest.

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Well, his convenient claim check money came into acceptance.

05:27 → 05:31

Borrowers began asking for their loans in the form of these claim checks;

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instead of the actual metal.

05:35 → 05:40

As industry expanded, more and more people asked the Goldsmith for loans.

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This gave the Goldsmith an even better idea.

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He knew that very few of his depositors ever removed their actual gold.

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So, the Goldsmith figured he could easily get away with lending out claim checks

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against his depositors gold in addition to his own.

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As long as the loans were re-paid, his depositors would be none the wiser

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and no worse off;

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and the Goldsmith, now more banker than artisan

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would make a far greater profit than he could by lending only his own gold.

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For years the Goldsmith secretly enjoyed a good income

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from the interest earned on everybody else's deposits.

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Now a prominent lender, he grew steadily richer than his fellow townsmen

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and he flaunted it.

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Suspicions grew that he was spending his depositor's money.

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His depositors got together and threatened withdrawal of their gold

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if the Goldsmith didn't come clean about his new found wealth.

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Contrary to what one might expect

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this did not turn out to be a disaster for the Goldsmith.

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Despite the duplicity inherent in his scheme,

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his idea did work. The depositors had not lost anything.

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Their gold was all safe in the Goldsmith's vault.

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Well, rather than taking back their gold, the depositors demanded that the Goldsmith,

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now their banker, cut them in, by paying them a share of the interest.

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That was the beginning of "Banking"

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The banker paid a low interest rate on deposits of other people's money

07:07 → 07:10

that he then loaned out on a higher interest.

07:10 → 07:13

The difference covered the bank's cost of operation and its profit.

07:13 → 07:16

The logic of this system was simple.

07:16 → 07:19

And it seems like a reasonable way to satisfy the demand for credit.

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However this is not the way banking works today.

07:25 → 07:29

Our Goldsmith banker was not content with the income remaining

07:29 → 07:31

after sharing the interest earnings with his depositors;

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and the demands for credit was growing fast

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as europeans spread out across the world.

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But his loans were limited by the amount of gold

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his depositors had in his vault.

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That's when he got an even bolder idea.

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Since no one, but himself, knew what was actually in his vault

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he could lend out claim checks on gold that wasn't even there.

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As long as all the claim check holders didn't come to the vault at the same time

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and demanded real gold.

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How would anyone find out?

08:00 → 08:02

This new scheme worked very well

08:02 → 08:05

and the banker became enormously wealthy

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on the interest paid on gold that did not exist.

08:09 → 08:12

The idea that the banker would just create money out of nothing

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was too outrageous to believe.

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So for a long time the thought did not occur to people.

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But the power to just invent money went to the banker's head,

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as you can well imagine.

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In time, the magnitude of the banker's loans

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and his ostentatious wealth did trigger suspicions, once again.

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Some borrowers started to demand real gold,

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instead of paper representations.

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Rumors spread...

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Suddenly several wealthy depositors showed up to remove their gold.

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The game was up.

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The sea of claim check holders flooded the street outside

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the closed doors of the bank.

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Alas, the banker did not have enough gold and silver to redeem

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all the paper he had put into their hands.

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This is called, "a run on the bank", and it is what every banker dreads.

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This phenomena, of "a run on the bank", ruined individual banks,

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and not surprisingly damaged public confidence in all bankers.

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It would have been straight forward to outlaw the practice of creating money from nothing.

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But the large volume of credit the bankers were offering

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had become essential to the success of European commercial expansion.

09:21 → 09:25

So instead, the practice was legalized and regulated.

09:25 → 09:29

Bankers agreed to abide by limits on the amount fictional loan money

09:29 → 09:31

that could be lent out.

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The limit would still be a number much larger than the actual

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value of gold and silver in the vault.

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Quite often the ratio was 9 fictional dollars

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to one actual dollar in gold.

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These regulations were enforced by surprise inspections.

09:45 → 09:48

It was also arranged that in the event of a run,

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Central Banks would support local banks with emergency infusions of gold.

09:53 → 09:57

Only if there were runs on a lot of banks simultaneously,

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that the banker's credit bubble burst and the system come crashing down.

10:06 → 10:09

THE MONEY SYSTEM TODAY

10:11 → 10:14

Over the years...the fractional reserve system

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and its integrated network of banks backed by a central bank

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has become the dominant money system of the world.

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At the same time the fraction of gold

10:24 → 10:28

backing the debt money has steadily shrunk to nothing.

10:29 → 10:33

The basic nature of money has changed.

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In the past a paper dollar was a actually receipt that could be redeemed for a fixed weight of gold or silver.

10:40 → 10:48

In the present, a paper or digital dollar can only be redeemed for another paper or digital dollar.

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In the past, privately created bank credit, existed only in the form of private bank notes

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which people had the choice to refuse just as we have the choice to refuse someone's private check today.

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In the present, privately created bank credit is legally convertible to government issued fiat currency.

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The dollars, lunes, and pounds, we habitually think of as money.

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Fiat currency, is money created by Government fiat or decree ...

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and legal tender laws declare that citizens must accept this fiat money

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as payment for debt or else the courts will not enforce the obligation.

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So now the question is

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if governments and banks can both just create money ....

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then how much money exists?

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In the past the total amount of money in existence

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was limited to the actual physical quantities of whatever commodity was in use as money.

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For example,

11:52 → 11:54

in order for new gold or silver money to be created,

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more gold or silver had to be found and dug out of the ground.

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In the present money is literally created as debt.

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New money is created when ever anyone takes a loan from the bank.

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As a result the total amount of money that can be created has only one real limit.

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The total level of debt.

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TOTAL AMERICAN DEBT

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Government place an additional statutory limit on the creation of new money

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by enforcing rules known as "Fractional Reserve Requirements"

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Essencialy arbitrary, "Fractional Reserve Requirements"

12:39 → 12:42

vary from country to country and from time to time

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In the past, it was coming to require

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banks to have at least one dollar worth

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of real dollar in the vault to back

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10 dollars worth of that money created

12:52 → 12:54

Today, Reserve Requirement ratios

12:54 → 12:57

no long apply to the ratio of new money

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to gold on deposit.

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but nearly to the ratio of new

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debt money to existing debt money

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on deposit in a bank.

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Today a bank reserves consist of two things:

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The amount of Government issued cash or equivalent

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that the bank has deposited with the Central Bank

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plus, the amount of already existing debt money that bank has on deposit

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To illustrate this in a simple way.

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Lets imagine that a new bank has just started up and has no depositors yet.

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however the banks investors have made a reserve deposit of U$ 1,111.12.

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of existing cash money at the Central Bank

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The required reserve ration is 9 to 1

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Step 1

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The doors open and the new bank welcome its first loan customer

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He needs ten thousand dollars to buy a car

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At the 9 to 1 reserve ratio the new bank reserved at the Central Bank

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also known as "high powered money" allows it to legally conjure into existence

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9 times that amount or ten thousand dollars.

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on a basis of the borrower pledge of debt

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his ten thousand dollars is not taken from anywhere.

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It is a brand-new money simply typed into the borrower's account as bank credit.

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the borrower then writes a check on that bank credit to buy the used car.

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Step 2

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The seller then deposit this newly created ten thousand dollars at her bank

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unlike the high powered government money deposited at the central bank

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this newly created credit money can not be multiplied by the reserve ratio

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instead, it is divided by the reserve ratio

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At a ratio of 9 to 1 a new loan of nine thousand dollars can be created

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on a basis of the ten thousand dollar deposit

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Step 3

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If that nine thousand dollars is then deposited by a third Party

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at the same bank that created it or at a different one

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it becomes a legal basis for a third issue of bank credit.

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this time for the amount of eight-one hundred dollars.

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Like one of those Russian dolls

15:13 → 15:16

for each layer contains a slightly smaller doll inside,

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each new deposit contains the potential for a slightly smaller loan

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in an infinitely decreasing series.

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Now... If the loan money created is not deposited at the bank, the process stops.

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That's the unpredictable part of the money creation mechanism

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But more likely at every step the new money will be deposited at a bank

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and the reserve ration process can repeat itself over and over

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until almost a hundred thousand dollars of brand-new money has been created

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within the banking system.

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All this new money has been created entirely from debt.

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and the whole process has been legally authorized by the initial reserve deposit

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of just one thousand one hundred and eleven dollars and twelve cents.

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which is still seated untouched at the Central Bank.

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What's more? Under this ingenious system. The books of each bank, in a chain,

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most show that the bank has ten percent more on deposit that it has out on loan.

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this gives banks a very real incentive to seek deposits in order to be able to make loans

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supporting the general but misleading impression that loans come out of deposits.

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Now... unless all the success of loans are deposited at the same bank.

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It can not be said that anyone bank got to multiply its initial high powered money reserve

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almost ninety times by issuing bank credit out of nothing.

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However, the bank system is a close loop.

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Bank credit created at one bank becomes a deposit in another and vice versa.

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In a theoretical world of perfect equal exchanges

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the ultimate would be exactly the same as if the whole process

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took place within one bank. That is..

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The bank's initial Central Bank Reserve of a little over of eleven hundred dollars

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allows it to automatically collect interested up to a

17:17 → 17:20

hundred thousand the bank never had.

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Banks loan money they DO NOT HAVE!

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If that sounds ridiculous! Try this:

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In recent decades as a result of steady lobbing by the banks

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the requirements to make a reserve deposit at the nations central bank

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have all but disappeared in some countries.

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and actual reserve ratios can be much higher than 9 to 1

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for some types of account 20 to 1 and 30 to 1 rations are common.

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NO RESERVE AT ALL in some cases.

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And even more recently, by using loan fees

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to raise required reserves from the borrower, banks have now found

17:57 → 18:01

a way to circumvent reserved requirement limitations entirely

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So, while the rules are complex, the common sense reality is actually quite simple.

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Banks can create as much money as we can borrow.

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"Everyone sub-consciously knows banks do not lend money when you draw

18:14 → 18:17

on your saving account, the bank doesn't tell you you can do this,

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because it has lent the money to somebody else."

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- Mark Mansfield, economist and author

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Despite the endlessly presented mint footage; Government created money

18:26 → 18:30

typically accounts for less then 5% of the money in circulation.

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More than 95% of the all money in existence today.

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was created by someone signing a pledge of indebtedness to a bank.

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What's more? This bank credit money is being created and destroyed

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in huge amounts everyday

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as new loans are made and old ones re-paid.

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Principal payments "un-create" the loan, ceasing to exist as money.

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PAID

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I am afraid that the ordinary citizen will not

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like to be told that banks can and do create money.

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... and they who control the credit of the nation directl the policy of Governments

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and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people. "

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- Reginald MacKenna - Past Chairman of the Board Midiands Bank of England

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DEBT

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Banks can only practice this money system

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with the active cooperation of the government

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First, government passes legal tender laws to make us use the national fiat currency.

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Secondly, governments allow private bank credit to be paid out.

19:32 → 19:34

in this government curreny.

19:34 → 19:37

Thirdly, government courts enforces debts

19:37 → 19:44

and lastly, Governments pass regulations to protect the money systems functionality

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and credibility with the public

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while doing nothing to inform the public about where money really comes from.

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The SIMPLE TRUTH is that when we sign on the dotted line for a so called loan or mortgage

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Our signed pledge of payment backed by the assets we pledge to forfeit should we fail to pay

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is the only thing of real value involved in a transaction.

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To anyone who believes we will honor our pledge.

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That loan agreement or mortgage is now a portable, exchangeable and sellable

20:16 → 20:22

piece of paper. It is an IOU. It represents value and is therefore

20:22 → 20:24

a form of money.

20:24 → 20:28

This money the borrower exchanges for the banks so called: LOAN

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Now a loan, in a real world means that a leander must have something to lend.

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If you need a hammer, my loaning you a promise to provide you a hammer...

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...I don't have... won't be of much help

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But in the artificial world of money, a bank's promise to pay a money it doesn't have

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is allowed to be passed off as money

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and we accept it as such!

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"Thus our national circulation medium is now at the mercy of

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loan transactions of banks, wich lend, not money, but promises to supply money

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they do not possess"

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- Iriving Fisher, economist and author.

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Once the borrower signs the pledge of debt

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the bank then balances the transaction by creating,

21:12 → 21:14

with a few key-strokes on the computer

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a matching debt of the bank to the borrower.

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From the borrower's point of view this becomes loan money

21:21 → 21:23

in his or her account, because the government allows this debt

21:23 → 21:28

of the bank to the borrower to be converted to governement FIAT currency

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everyone has to accept it as money.

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Again the basic truth is very simple

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Without the document the borrower signed, the bank would have nothing to lend.

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Have you ever wonder how everyone, governements, corporations

21:48 → 21:52

small businesses, families, can all be in debt at the same time

21:52 → 21:54

and for such astronomical amounts.

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Have you ever questioned how there can be that much money out there to lend?

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Now you know! There isn't.

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Banks do not lend money. They simply create it from debt.

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And as debt is potentially unlimited, so is the supply of money.

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And as it turns out, the opposite situation is also true.

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Isn't it astounding that despite the incredible wealth of resources, innovation and productivity

22:24 → 22:28

that surround us, almost all of us, from government, to companies to individuals

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are heavily in debt to bankers

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If only people would stop and think: "How can that be?"

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How can it be that people who actually produce all the real health in the world

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are in debt to those who merely lend out the money

22:42 → 22:44

that represents the wealth.

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Even more amazing is once we realize that money really is debt

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we realize that if there was no debt there'd be no money.

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"That is what our money system is. If there were no debts in our money system,

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there wouldn't be any money."

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- Marriner S. Eccles, Chairman and Governor of the Federal Reserve Board

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If this is news to you... you are not alone!

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Most people imagine that if all debts were paid off

23:15 → 23:17

the state of the economy would improve.

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It is certainly true on an individual level

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just as we have more money to spend when our loan payments are finished

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we think that if everyone were out of debt

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there would be more money to spend in general

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But the truth is exactly the opposite.

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There would be no money at all.

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ALL DEBTS PAID OFF LEAVES SOCIETY WITH NO MONEY

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There it is. We are totally dependent on continually renewed bank credit

23:42 → 23:44

for there to be any money in existence.

23:44 → 23:46

No loans...No money

23:46 → 23:49

Which is what happened during the great depression

23:49 → 23:51

the money supply shrank drastically

23:51 → 23:54

as the supplies of loans dried up

23:54 → 23:57

This is a staggering thought.

23:57 → 24:00

We are completely dependent on the Commercial Banks.

24:00 → 24:03

Some has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation,

24:03 → 24:04

cash or credit.

24:04 → 24:06

If the Banks create ample synthetic money,

24:06 → 24:08

We are prosperous; if not, we starve.

24:08 → 24:11

We are, absolutetly, without a permanente money system

24:11 → 24:14

When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity

24:14 → 24:17

of our hopeless position is almost incredible, but there it is."

24:17 → 24:23

- Robert H. Hemphill, Credit Manager Feral Reserve Bank, Atlanta, Georgia

24:25 → 24:30

PERPETUAL DEBT

24:32 → 24:34

That is not at all.

24:34 → 24:37

Banks create only the amount of the principle

24:37 → 24:40

They don't create the money to pay the interest.

24:40 → 24:42

Where is that suppose to come from?

24:44 → 24:47

The only place borrowers can go to obtain the money to pay the interest

24:47 → 24:50

is the general economy's over all money supply.

24:50 → 24:52

But almost of all that over all money supply

24:52 → 24:55

has been created exactly the same way

24:55 → 24:59

As bank credit that has to be paid back with more than was created.

24:59 → 25:03

So, everwhere, there are other borrowers in the same situation

25:03 → 25:08

frantically trying to obtain the money they need to pay back both principle and interest

25:08 → 25:12

from a total money pool which contain only principal

25:12 → 25:16

this is clearly impossible for everyone to pay back the principal plus interest

25:16 → 25:19

because the interest money doesn't exist.

25:19 → 25:22

This can even be expressed by a simple mathematical formula

25:22 → 25:26

WILL FULFILL THEIR LOAN CONTRACT

25:26 → 25:28

WILL BE FORECLOSED

25:28 → 25:30

The big problem here is that for long term loans such as:

25:30 → 25:35

mortgages and government debt. The total interest far exceeds the principle

25:35 → 25:39

So, unless a lot of extra money is created to pay the interest

25:39 → 25:44

that means a very high proportion of foreclosures in a non-functioning economy

25:45 → 25:50

To maintain a functional society the rate of foreclosure needs to below

25:50 → 25:56

And so, to accomplish this, more and more new debt money has to be created

25:56 → 26:00

to satisfy todays demands for money to service the previous debt.

26:00 → 26:03

But of course this just make the total debt bigger

26:03 → 26:06

And that means more interest must automatically be paid

26:06 → 26:10

resulting in a ever escalating and inescapable spiral

26:10 → 26:14

of mounting indebtedness

26:18 → 26:24

It is only the time lag between money's creation as new loans and its repayment

26:24 → 26:27

that keeps the over all shortage of money

26:27 → 26:30

from catching up and bankrupting the entire system.

26:30 → 26:33

However as the bank's sensational credit monster gets bigger and bigger

26:33 → 26:36

the need to create more and more debt money to feed it

26:36 → 26:39

becomes increasingly urgent

26:39 → 26:42

Why are interest rates so low?

26:42 → 26:45

Why do we get unsolicited Credit Cards in the mail?

26:45 → 26:48

Why is the US Government spending faster than ever?

26:48 → 26:53

Could it be to stave off collapse of the entire monetary system?

26:53 → 26:58

A rational person has to ask: Can this really go on forever?

26:58 → 27:00

Isn't a collapse inevitable?

27:00 → 27:04

"One thing to realize about our fractional reserve banking system is that,

27:04 → 27:07

like a child's game of musical chairs,

27:07 → 27:11

as long as the music is playing, there are no losers."

27:11 → 27:14

- Andrew Gause, Monetary Historian

27:17 → 27:22

Money facilitates production and trade as the money supply increases

27:22 → 27:25

money just becomes increasily worthless

27:25 → 27:30

unless the volume of production and trade in a real world grows by the same amount.

27:30 → 27:35

add to this, the realization that when we hear that the economy is growing at 3% per year

27:35 → 27:37

it sounds like a constant rate.

27:37 → 27:38

But it is not!

27:38 → 27:44

This year 3% represents more real good and services than last year 3%

27:44 → 27:47

Because it is 3% of the new total.

27:47 → 27:51

Instead of the straight line as a natural visualized from the words.

27:51 → 27:55

It is an exponential curve getting steeper and steeper.

27:57 → 28:01

The problem of course is that perpetual growth of the real economy

28:01 → 28:06

require perpetual escalating news of real world resources and energy

28:06 → 28:11

more and more stuff has to go for natural resources to garbage, every year

28:11 → 28:13

forever !

28:13 → 28:15

just to keep the the system from collapsing

28:15 → 28:18

"Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world

28:18 → 28:21

is either a madman or an economist."

28:21 → 28:24

What can we do about this down right scary situation?

28:25 → 28:29

For one thing, we need a very different concept of money

28:32 → 28:36

It is time more people ask themselves and their government 4 simple questions:

28:36 → 28:39

Around the world governments borrow money

28:39 → 28:41

and interest from private banks.

28:41 → 28:44

Government debt is a major component of total debt

28:44 → 28:48

and servicing that debt takes a big chunk of our taxes

28:48 → 28:51

Now we know that banks simply create the money they lend.

28:51 → 28:55

and that Governments have given them permission to do this.

28:55 → 28:59

So, the first question is: Why do governments CHOOSE

28:59 → 29:02

to borrow money from private banks at interest when government

29:02 → 29:05

could create all the interest-free money it needs itself?

29:05 → 29:10

And the second big question is: Why create money as DEBT at all?

29:10 → 29:13

Why not create money that circulates permanently

29:13 → 29:18

and does have to be perpetually re-borrowed and interested in order to exist?

29:18 → 29:22

The third question: How can a money system

29:22 → 29:25

that can only function with perpetually accelerating growth

29:25 → 29:28

be used to build a sustainable economy?

29:28 → 29:30

Isn't it logical that

29:30 → 29:35

Perpetually accelerating growth and sustainability are incompatible?

29:35 → 29:39

And finally: What is it about our current system

29:39 → 29:42

that makes it totally dependent on perpetual growth?

29:42 → 29:47

What needs to be changed to allow the creation of a sustainable economy?

29:47 → 29:50

USURY

29:52 → 29:56

One time, charging any interest on a loan was called: USURY.

29:56 → 30:00

and at one time several penalties including death

30:00 → 30:03

Every major religion forbade usury.

30:04 → 30:08

Most of the arguments made against the practice were moral

30:08 → 30:12

it was held that money's only legitimate purpose was to facilitate

30:12 → 30:15

the exchange of real goods and services.

30:15 → 30:18

Any form of making money from simply having money

30:18 → 30:21

was regarding as the act of a parasite

30:21 → 30:23

or of a thief.

30:23 → 30:25

However as the credit needs in commerce increased

30:25 → 30:29

the moral argument eventually gave way to the argument

30:29 → 30:33

that lending involves risk and loss of opportunity to the lender

30:33 → 30:36

and therefore attempting to make a profit from lending is justified

30:36 → 30:39

Today these notions seem quaint

30:39 → 30:42

Today the idea of making money from money

30:42 → 30:44

is held as an ideal to strive for.

30:44 → 30:48

Why work when you can get your money to work for you?

30:50 → 30:53

However in trying to envision a sustainable future

30:53 → 30:59

it is very clear that the charging of interest is both a moral and a practical problem.

31:01 → 31:07

Imagine a society and an economy that can endure for centuries, because

31:07 → 31:11

instead of plundering its capital stores of energy

31:11 → 31:14

it restricts itself to present day income

31:14 → 31:19

No more wood is harvested than grows in the same period.

31:19 → 31:21

All energy is renewable:

31:21 → 31:24

solar, gravitational, geothermal,

31:24 → 31:26

magnetic or whatever else we discover.

31:26 → 31:30

This society lives within the limits of its non-renewable resources

31:30 → 31:33

by reusing and recycling everything.

31:33 → 31:37

And the population just replaces itself.

31:38 → 31:43

Such a society can never function using a money system utterly dependent

31:43 → 31:46

on perpetually accelerating growth.

31:46 → 31:50

A stable economy would need a money supply at least capable of

31:50 → 31:53

remaining stable without collapsing.

31:53 → 31:57

Let's say that the total volume of this stable money supply

31:57 → 32:00

is represented by this big circle.

32:00 → 32:05

Let's also imagine that money lenders must actually having existing money to lend

32:05 → 32:08

if some people, within this money supply

32:08 → 32:11

begin systematically lending money at interest

32:11 → 32:14

their share of the money supply will grow.

32:14 → 32:19

If they continually re-loan at interest all the money that gets paid back

32:19 → 32:22

what's the inevitable result?

32:22 → 32:25

whether its gold, fiat or debt money, it doesn't matter.

32:25 → 32:29

The money lenders will end up with all the money.

32:29 → 32:32

and after the foreclosures and bankruptcy's are all filed

32:32 → 32:35

They'll get all the real property too.

32:36 → 32:41

Only if the proceeds of lending and interest were evenly distributed among the population

32:41 → 32:44

would this central problem be solved.

32:44 → 32:47

Heavy taxation of the bank profits might accomplish this goal.

32:47 → 32:52

But then why would bank want to be in business?

32:54 → 32:58

If we were ever able to free ourselves from the current situation

32:58 → 33:03

We could imagine banking run as a non profit service to society

33:03 → 33:07

Dispersing its interest earnings as a universal citizen dividend

33:07 → 33:10

or lending without charging interest at all

33:10 → 33:13

"I have never yet had anyone who could, thorough the use of logic and reason,

33:13 → 33:16

justify the Federal Government borrowing the use of its own money...

33:16 → 33:19

I believe the time will come, when people will demand that this be changed.

33:19 → 33:22

I believe the time will come in this country when they will actually blame you and me

33:22 → 33:25

and everyone else connected with the Congress for sitting idly by and

33:25 → 33:28

permitting such an idiotic system to continue."

33:28 → 33:35

- Wright Patman - Democratic Congressman 1928-1976, Charmain Comitee on Banking & Currency - 1963 - 1975

33:36 → 33:38

CHANGING THE SYSTEM

33:39 → 33:43

If it is the fundamental nature of the system that causes the problems

33:43 → 33:48

tinkering with the system can not ever solve those problems.

33:48 → 33:51

The system itself must be replaced

33:54 → 33:58

Many monetary critics call for a return to gold based money

33:58 → 34:01

claiming that gold has a long history of reliability

34:01 → 34:05

They ignore the many scams that can be played with gold.

34:05 → 34:09

shaving coins to basing the metal, cornering the market.

34:09 → 34:12

All which were abundantly practiced in ancient Rome.

34:12 → 34:14

And contributed to its fall.

34:14 → 34:18

Some advocate silver at being more abundant than gold

34:18 → 34:20

and therefore more difficult to corner

34:20 → 34:24

Many question then need to bring back precious metals at all.

34:24 → 34:28

No one want to go back to carrying heavy sacs of coins to go shopping.

34:28 → 34:32

Its a certainty that paper, digital, plastic

34:32 → 34:37

or more likely biometric ID money, would be the real medium of trade.

34:37 → 34:41

with the same potential for creating unlimited debit money we have now.

34:41 → 34:46

beyond that if gold again became the sole legal basis of money

34:46 → 34:50

those who have no gold, would suddenly have no money.

34:51 → 34:56

Other monetary reform advocates have concluded that greed and dishonesty

34:56 → 34:57

are the main problems.

34:57 → 35:01

And there are maybe better ways to create an honest and equitable money system.

35:01 → 35:04

than returning to silver or gold.

35:04 → 35:09

Inventive minds have proposed a variety of alternate ways to create money.

35:09 → 35:14

Many private barter system create money as debt as much as bank do

35:14 → 35:18

but it is done openly and without charging interest

35:18 → 35:20

An example as a barter system

35:20 → 35:23

in which debt is expressed as pledges of hours of work

35:23 → 35:26

all work being valued equally at the dollar figure

35:26 → 35:30

that then allows hours to be equated with the dollar price of goods.

35:30 → 35:34

This kind of money system can be set up by anyone

35:34 → 35:36

who can devise a way to do the accounting

35:36 → 35:38

and finding willing and trustworthy participants.

35:38 → 35:44

Setting up a local barter money system, even if it were little used now

35:44 → 35:47

would be a prudent emergency planning for any community.

35:50 → 35:54

Monetary reform, like Electoral Reform is a big topic.

35:54 → 35:59

And one that requires a willingness to change and to think outside the box

35:59 → 36:02

Monetary reform again like electoral Reform

36:02 → 36:04

will not come easily,

36:04 → 36:06

because the enormously powerful

36:06 → 36:08

interests that benefit from the existing system

36:08 → 36:12

will do their utmost to maintain their advantage

36:12 → 36:16

Now that we've seen that money is just an idea.

36:16 → 36:18

And that in reality money can be whatever we make it

36:18 → 36:23

Here is a one very simple alternative monetary concept to consider

36:23 → 36:27

This model is based on systems that have worked in the past

36:27 → 36:29

In England and in America.

36:29 → 36:33

Systems that were undermined and destroyed by the Goldsmith bankers

36:33 → 36:36

and their fractional reserve system.

36:40 → 36:44

To create an economy based on permanent interest free money

36:44 → 36:47

money could simply be created and spent into the economy

36:47 → 36:48

by the government

36:48 → 36:52

preferably on long lasting infrastructures that facilitates the economy

36:52 → 36:57

such as roads, railroads, bridges, harbors and public markets.

36:57 → 37:01

This money would not be created as debt

37:01 → 37:03

It would be created as value.

37:03 → 37:06

That value being in the form of whatever it was spent on.

37:06 → 37:10

If this new money facilitated a proportional increase in trade

37:10 → 37:14

requiring its use. It would cause no inflation whatsoever.

37:14 → 37:18

If Government spending did cause inflation

37:18 → 37:21

there would be two courses of action available:

37:21 → 37:26

Inflation as equivalent in a fact to a flat tax on money

37:26 → 37:29

wether the money goes down and value 20%,

37:29 → 37:32

or the government takes 20% of our money away from us

37:32 → 37:35

the effect on our buying power is the same.

37:36 → 37:39

Viewed this way. Inflation in place of taxation,

37:39 → 37:42

might be politically acceptable.

37:42 → 37:44

if well spent and kept within limits.

37:44 → 37:48

Or government could choose to counter inflation

37:48 → 37:51

by collecting tax monies that it then takes out of use.

37:51 → 37:55

thus reducing the money supply and restoring its value.

37:55 → 37:57

To control deflation,

37:57 → 38:00

which is the phenomena of falling wages and prices

38:00 → 38:04

the government would simply spend more money into existence.

38:04 → 38:07

With no competing private debt money creation

38:07 → 38:10

governments would have more effective control

38:10 → 38:13

of their nation's money supply.

38:13 → 38:16

The public would know whom to blame if things went wrong.

38:16 → 38:18

Governments would rise and fall

38:18 → 38:21

on their ability to preserve the value of money.

38:21 → 38:24

Government would operate primarily on taxes as it does now.

38:24 → 38:27

But taxes money would go much much further

38:27 → 38:31

as none of it would be required to pay interest to private bankers.

38:33 → 38:36

There could be no national debt

38:36 → 38:40

if the federal government simply created the money it needed.

38:40 → 38:42

Our perpetual collective servitude to the banks

38:42 → 38:46

through interest payments on government debt, would be impossible.

38:49 → 38:51

"Money is a new form of slavery,

38:51 → 38:55

and distiguishable from the old simply by the fact that

38:55 → 38:57

it is impersonal there is no human relation

38:57 → 38:59

between master and slave."

38:59 → 39:01

- Leo Tolstoy

39:02 → 39:05

THE INVISIBLE POWER

39:05 → 39:08

"None are more enslaved than

39:08 → 39:11

those who falsely believe they are free."

39:11 → 39:13

- Goethe

39:13 → 39:16

What we have been taught to believe as democracy and freedom

39:16 → 39:19

has become in reality an ingenious and visible form

39:19 → 39:22

of economic dictatorship

39:22 → 39:26

As long as our entire society remains utterly dependent on bank credit

39:26 → 39:28

for supplying of money.

39:28 → 39:31

Bankers will be in a position to make the decision on

39:31 → 39:36

who gets the money they need and who doesn't.

39:41 → 39:44

The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing.

39:44 → 39:47

The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand

39:47 → 39:50

that was ever invented.

39:50 → 39:53

Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin.

39:53 → 39:56

Bankers own the Earth. Take it away from them,

39:56 → 39:59

but leave them the power to create money,

39:59 → 40:02

and with the flick of the pen, they will create enough money

40:02 → 40:05

to buy it back again...

40:05 → 40:08

Take the great power away from them and all great fortunes, like mine,

40:08 → 40:10

will disappear, and they ought to disappear,

40:10 → 40:13

for them this would be a better and happier world to live in

40:13 → 40:16

But if you want to continue to be slaves of the banks and pay the cost

40:16 → 40:18

of your own slavery,

40:18 → 40:21

then let bankers continue to create money and control credit."

40:21 → 40:28

- Sir Josiah Stamp, Director, Bank of England 1928-1941 (reputed to be the 2nd richest man in England at the time)

40:28 → 40:31

"The inability of the Colonists to get power to issue their own money

40:31 → 40:34

permanently out of the hands of George III and the international bankers

40:34 → 40:37

was the PRIME reason for the revolutionary war."

40:37 → 40:40

- Benjamin Franklin

40:41 → 40:45

Few people are aware today the history of the United States

40:45 → 40:49

since the revolution in 1776 has been in large part

40:49 → 40:53

the story of an epic struggle to get free and stay free.

40:53 → 40:57

of control by the European international banks

40:57 → 41:01

This struggle was finally lost in 1913

41:01 → 41:03

When president Woodrow Wilson signed into effect

41:03 → 41:05

The Federal Reserve Act

41:05 → 41:07

putting the international banking cartel

41:07 → 41:10

in charge of creating America's money.

41:12 → 41:14

"I am a most unhappy man.

41:14 → 41:16

I have unwittingly ruined my country.

41:16 → 41:19

A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit

41:19 → 41:22

Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore,

41:22 → 41:25

and all our activities are in the hands of a few men.

41:25 → 41:28

We have come to be one of the worst ruled,

41:28 → 41:31

one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments

41:31 → 41:34

in the civilized world, no longer a Government by free opinion,

41:34 → 41:37

no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority,

41:37 → 41:40

but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.

41:40 → 41:43

- Woodrow Wilson President of the United States 1913 - 1921

41:43 → 41:47

The power of this system is deeply engrained

41:47 → 41:51

so is the educational and media silence on this subject

41:51 → 41:53

Year ago, a Canadian deputy and prime minister

41:53 → 41:56

surveyed scores of non-economists

41:56 → 41:59

both highly educated professionals

41:59 → 42:01

and common's sense people on the street

42:01 → 42:05

and found that not one of them had an accurate understanding

42:05 → 42:07

of how money is created.

42:07 → 42:10

In fact. It is probably safe to say that most people

42:10 → 42:12

including the front line employees of banks

42:12 → 42:16

have never given the matter a moment thought.

42:17 → 42:19

Have you?

42:22 → 42:25

"All of the perplexities, confusion, and distress in America arises,

42:25 → 42:28

not from the defects of the Constitution or Confederation,

42:28 → 42:30

not from want of honor or virtue,

42:30 → 42:34

so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.

42:34 → 42:36

- John Adams, Founding Father of the American Constitution.

42:36 → 42:40

The modern money as debt system was born a little over 300 years ago.

42:40 → 42:44

When the first bank of England was set up with a Royal Charter

42:44 → 42:49

for fractional lending of gold receipts had a modest ratio of 2 to 1

42:50 → 42:54

That modest ratio was just the proverbial foot in the door

42:54 → 42:56

The system is now worldwide

42:56 → 43:00

creates virtually unlimited amounts of money out of thin air

43:00 → 43:02

and has almost everyone on the planet

43:02 → 43:09

chained to a perpetual growing debt that can never be paid off.

43:12 → 43:15

Could it have all happen by accident?

43:15 → 43:19

or is it a conspiracy.

43:20 → 43:28

Obviously ! Something very big is at stake here.

43:34 → 43:37

"Whoever controls the volume of money in our country is absolute master

43:37 → 43:40

of all industry and commerce...

43:40 → 43:43

and when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled,

43:43 → 43:46

one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top,

43:46 → 43:49

you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originates."

43:49 → 43:52

- James A. Garfield, assassinated President of the United States.

43:52 → 43:55

"The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currence

43:55 → 43:58

and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government

43:58 → 44:00

and the buying power of consumers.

44:00 → 44:03

By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved

44:03 → 44:04

immense sums of interest.

44:04 → 44:06

The privilege of creating and issuing money

44:06 → 44:09

is not only the supreme prerogative of government,

44:09 → 44:12

but it is the government's greatest creative opportunity."

44:12 → 44:14

- Abraham Lincoln, assassinated President of the United States

44:14 → 44:17

"Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government

44:17 → 44:20

and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility,

44:20 → 44:23

all talk of sovereignty of Parliament and democracy is idlle and futile...

44:23 → 44:25

Once a nation parts with control of its credit,

44:25 → 44:28

it matters not who makes the nation's laws.

44:28 → 44:31

Usury once in control will wreck any nation.

44:31 → 44:33

- William Lyon Mackenzie King former Prime Minister of Canada

44:33 → 44:36

(who nationalized the Bank of Canada)

44:36 → 44:39

"We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time magazine

44:39 → 44:42

and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings

44:42 → 44:45

and respected the promises of discretion for almost forty years.

44:45 → 44:48

It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world

44:48 → 44:51

if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years.

44:51 → 44:53

But the world is now more sophisticated

44:53 → 44:56

and prepared to march towards a world-government.

44:56 → 44:59

The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers

44:59 → 45:02

is surely preferable to the National auto–determination

45:02 → 45:04

practiced in past centuries."

45:04 → 45:09

- David Rockefeller in an address to Trilateral Commission meeting, 1991

45:14 → 45:17

"Only the small secrets need to be protected.

45:17 → 45:20

The big ones are kept secret by public incredulity."

45:20 → 45:23

- Marshall McLuhan, media "guru"

45:26 → 45:32

MONEY AS DEBT

45:32 → 45:40

"Money as Debit" was created & produced by Paul Grignon

45:40 → 45:45

Voice Over: Bob Bossin

45:45 → 45:50

Editing Assistance: Tsiporah Grignon

45:50 → 45:56

Music Compositions: Vivaldi and Paul Grignon

45:56 → 46:02

Digital Music Production & 3D modelling: Paul Grignon

46:03 → 46:06

Additional 3-D Models: Courtesy of "free stuff" at 3dcafe.com

46:06 → 46:08

and help3d.com

46:08 → 46:12

"Money as Debt" owes its origin to the work of many dedicated educators

46:12 → 46:14

and advocates of monetary reform

46:14 → 46:18

It is intended as general introduction to the conceptual basis of money

46:18 → 46:24

To learn more visit: http://moneyasdebt.net

46:24 → 46:30

A production of: Moofire Studio / Lifeboat News

46:37 → 46:39

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