The Secret of Oz
In 1996, in a documentary called The Money Masters, we asked the question why is America going broke. It wasn’t clear then that we were, but it is today. Now the question is how can we get out of this mess. Foreclosures are everywhere, unemployment is skyrocketing – and this is only the beginning. America’s economy is on a long, slippery slope from here on. The bubble ride of debt has come to an end.
What can government do? The sad answer is – under the current monetary system – nothing. It’s not going to get better until the root of the problem is understood and addressed. There isn’t enough stimulus money in the entire world to get us out of this hole. Why? Debt. The national debt is just like our consumer debt – it’s the interest that’s killing us.
Though most people don’t realize it the government can’t just issue it’s own money anymore. It used to be that way. The King could just issue stuff called money. Abraham Lincoln did it to win the Civil War. No, today, in our crazy money system, the government has to borrow our money into existence and then pay interest on it. That’s why they call it the National Debt. All our money is created out of debt. Politicians who focus on reducing the National Debt as an answer probably don’t know what the National Debt really is. To reduce the National Debt would be to reduce our money – and there’s already too little of that.
The economy of the U.S. is in a deflationary spiral. Nothing can stop it -- except monetary reform.
1. No more national debt. Nations should not be allowed to borrow. If they want to spend, they have to take the political heat right away by taxing.
2. No more fractional reserve lending. Banks can only lend money they actually have.
3. Gold money is NOT the answer. Historically gold ALWAYS works against a thriving middle class and ALWAYS works to create a plutocracy.
4. The total quantity of money + credit in a national system must be fixed, varying only with the population.
Gold is a solution. Earn in cash, save in gold (or any other asset that is tangible).
You don't want everything there but you certainly don't want to be without it.
You can use it as collateral if you want to borrow money, so technically you should never have to sell, and you have your hedge against inflation. win win
A portion of my portfolio is in gold. I control buy and sell myself so I dont need a broker.
I use 7k Metals private vault for storage. Low fees and instant conversion to cash if needed.
" Gold money is NOT the answer. Historically gold ALWAYS works against a thriving middle class and ALWAYS works to create a plutocracy."
Read- Google, what L. Frank Baum wrote the Wizard of Oz about.. What, is silver only an industrial metal ?
Left-wing communist bullshit.
They don't explain what a government bond is, a bond is a legal entity with a NAME attached. Our legal NAMES are bonded into the system as incorporated DEBTORS through social contracts that bind our NAMES to the money masters who own them.
In summary, all that is necessary is correcting a few mistakes that WE allowed to happen. And to be better electors and monitors of those we elect so that WE don't allow it to happen again. Will that seem like a big change in things monetary to most, probably. That is a result of a socialist education, another problem which needs fixing.
From the Intro:
The economy of the U.S. is in a deflationary spiral. Nothing can stop it -- except monetary reform.
1. No more national debt. Nations should not be allowed to borrow. If they want to spend, they have to take the political heat right away by taxing.
2. No more fractional reserve lending. Banks can only lend money they actually have.
3. Gold money is NOT the answer. Historically gold ALWAYS works against a thriving middle class and ALWAYS works to create a plutocracy.
4. The total quantity of money + credit in a national system must be fixed, varying only with the population.
I have not watched this yet but assume the above description is accurate. First you have to believe Item 0: "Nothing can stop it except monetary reform."
That all depends on what you consider "reform". What unleashed the tidal wave of malfeasance was the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act regulating banks from putting depositors money at risk in the wall street or other casinos, keeping commercial banks separate from "investment" banks. Note: When reading anything you would be much closer to the truth by replacing most instances of the word "investment" with SPECULATION. Not that all speculation is bad, just when you Banksters (like the skeptic darwinian) speculate with depositors money without notifying them that their money would be far safer in their mattress than your bank after repeal of Glass-Steagall. I would consider the re-institution of the Glass-Steagall act a mere correcting of a bought and paid for congress and president (both political parties should be strung up for what they have done to this country) mistake. That would go a long way to correcting the current problem of the banking system.
Did we have a debt problem before Glass-Steagall was repealed, enabling commercial banks to roll the dice with depositors money at the wall street casino, which most all lost, got bailed out with the citizens future tax obligations, and most doubled down again, and will go bankrupt (as they already are technically), when the people say no more trillions to the banks who have committed moral hazard yet again? Yes, for certain we had an ever expanding debt problem prior to the latest craziness. But first another mistake should be corrected. Our wonderful banking oversight also decided to change the accounting rules allowing them to keep their doors open. Previously it was Mark To Market, valuing assets at their current market value. Now it is known as Mark To Fantasy accounting. Reading the accounting statements of banks and corporations is essentially a waste of time unless it is a small straight forward business, unlike the many larger corporations which stuff their big problems into acquired companies or off shore accounts. Accounting rules must be corrected back to the way they were so a rational person can have some level of confidence in what they are reading. Why bother having accounting at all if it is a joke?
So those two corrections would solve the more recent crazy /debt problem. How to solve the prior debt problem? Is it a monetary problem or a political problem? Who put us into debt? Clearly congress cannot be trusted to be financially responsible. And if you get rid of the private bankster Federal Reserve which simply does accounting and as an insane fee gets to charge interest on every dollar rather than being paid a salary. Ok they print the physical dollars as well. I'm sure we are underpaying them for that as well (cough cough) and could not manage that on our own either. That would get rid of a huge debt burden but wouldn't solve currency debasement by congress overspending. One of the methods the banksters have been using to steal your wealth (inflation). Next by deflation when your assets will be devalued when you and many others are competing to sell them to get some money for food, and the banksters will scoop them up at pennies on the dollar. When the dust settles they will start the inflation game again. Unless of course YOU decide to stop all that thievery by kicking all the bought bums out of congress, seeing to it incorruptible decent wise people in numbers from all parties are running for all offices so it doesn't matter who the fools vote for, someone decent will get in to make the necessary corrections and changes. What other changes besides getting rid of the Fed would solve the financial problems? Actually if you go back just prior to the Wilson presidency, getting rid of the Fed would be just another mistake correction.
Credit is just another word for Debt. What have either really done for the world, except unnecessarily accumulate most of the wealth in the hands of the few families that own or control most of the banks and corporations? Does any country really need credit or rather to go into debt? If one looks at every country ensnared into the debt pit of hell by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), some recent prime examples are in South America such as Argentina, where their administrations were tempted into accepting more money than they could pay back in the allotted time frame, thereby defaulting, causing their currency to crash and enabling the banksters to get at their natural resources which they wanted all along. Not to mention extracting a tax on the people in perpetuity, another goal achieved. The bankers did the same thing to farmers in the usa years ago. Take this money and buy new better equipment and land to expand. And when the crops failed or prices fell due to the rapid expansion in an area, they couldn't pay. Did debt help the food supplying farmer? Only the lucky ones or those that didn't take on more than they could afford to lose. Did some farmers do fine growing at a slower pace avoiding banks altogether? The majority did. Is that possible today? Not very since the banksters have cause the inflation in the price of land and equipment. If pay as you go works well for families and farmers in the past. It seems it would work well again for governments as well, if we only could get rid of inflation, which is the theft of the value of your money.
Item 1 and Item 2 seem clear solutions. No national debt and no fractional reserve banking. So what if you cannot have something instantly by going into debt up to your ears. When all the inflation ends, it won't take you near as long to afford it. A much better situation than being saddled and road hard with debt a large portion if not all of your life; the bankster plan to get rich off of you.
If a government wants to spend more it will have to tax more. If a country is poor then it has no business spending unless the people decide they want to pool their money to build a better water system or road, which they certainly don't need govt to do for them. If the road is tougher to prosperity, people will be less likely to give it up to some weasel carpet bagging bankster who wants to put them in debt chains.
What then is to prevent a current administration (govt) from printing more money to buy votes with to stay in power? Or importing poor people who like free stuff too, that would also vote for more of same?
It is interesting that the documentarian is against gold-money (Item 3) but proposes Item 4 that money + credit must be a fixed amount. If money + credit can only increase with the population that means it is a zero sum game. You can only increase your wealth by taking someone else's. Haven't we had enough banksters doing that to prove it to be a lousy system, ideology, or method? There must be some means of allowing the individual to work for what he wants without having to step on others ability to do same. Exactly what the corporate "person" or entity does. If you look close enough, Socialism is all about getting rid of the competition. When you have socialist run schools they don't educate, they brainwash with emotional falsehoods. Govt run schools are socialist by definition. They will never explain that socialism is where govt and its corporate cronies eliminate all competition and then you have to pay what ever they ask. No. They lie saying socialism is the benevolent method taking care of everyone (also a falsehood). They take care of themselves, enslave everyone else, and give just enough to the poor to keep them voting for the same, which is less and less until the money runs out. Takes a LONG time for the money to run out when countries are allowed to borrow, not nearly as long in a pay as you go system, which would demonstrate the evils of socialism in short order ... although it is plain to see at any time for anyone willing to look rather than regurgitate emotional ego protectionism.
I submit that politicians will find a way to circumvent any laws installed to limit their ability to print money to buy votes unless their is a limited supply of the ink, or paper. Since they can always grow more than enough paper and ink or smuggle it in, it seems the founding fathers were correct in stipulating in the US Constitution that the only money shall be gold, which seems to have a limited supply. Why would gold ALWAYS work against a thriving middle class and limiting money + credit to a fixed amount would not? When for most practical purposes they would accomplish the same result, IF the fixed amount of money + credit could actually be accomplished? I disbelieve the premise altogether. Fractional reserve banking began with the gold "storage/bankers" lending out more than they had in deposit. That is what created a plutocracy or rule by the wealthy. Money is just a medium of exchange. If you allow that to be corrupted in one way or another, by the printing press or by fractional reserve banking, wealth will always accumulate to those doing the corrupting. Personally I would be more in favor of Silver as being the only money since it wouldn't be worth the effort to counterfeit silver. Bring back the silver certificates I had when young. They looked like a dollar, they acted like a dollar, and if they didn't you could trade them in for an ounce of silver.
Problem solved.
Helpful commentary , I loved the facts . Does anyone know where my business can get ahold of a sample a form form to type on ?
skeptic_darwinian who do you think the number one scientist is? Who is the Creator of science?
Well put together Doco, thank you Bill Still. I now have a good tool to work with to try to awaken some sleepers.
Please explain to this layman how wealth is created if the government issues its own currency, as Lincoln's issuance of "Greenbacks", without a standard like gold backing it up. Does simply having currency in circulation, enough for carrying on commerce, enable the economy to function, value being attached as the currency moves? Just by having currency in motion it assumes worth?
How is the government kept from overproducing currency in order to finance a boondoggle, a wasteful scheme, or an ill-advised invasion of a sovereign nation? Are citizens somehow more alert to fiduciary malfeasance? Do they have their fingers more firmly on the pulse of the nation's budget when our government is in control of the currency rather than self-serving bankers?
Well said. As worth the watch a few years ago as now. What has often mystified me is why the creation of debt system is so little understood by so many. (I do realize how much energy goes into keeping people confused and compliant). Today, surely most of us get it that 'corporations' (especially banks) are directly and indirectly responsible for most of the economic problems of our times (and those in the past). This doc (watch more then once if your not quite sure-because all is made very clear) shows the wide distribution of historical context in an entertaining way, yet stays with the key issue and key solutions. Namely, banks (controlled by a very few super rich 'persons') has control of the money system, and through that control has manipulated and controlled governments and the people in order to grow their own wealth - period. Obviously, when the govt. must go hat in hand to those who 'control' then govt. is not going to do a great job in representing the needs of the people. The solutions are simply - bank and corporate control is returned to the 'elected' government, which is then forced to be responsible (as intended) to the people who elect them. We do have local banks who do not run like the corrupt and greed based BIG corps... they are credit unions and coops ... transferring our wealth to these is a good first step, while we find the political will to make the required changes. (millions of people are already doing just that, and while the big banks are laughing at us and saying it is having little effect on them-least that was the cry a year ago - they are not laughing so well now, as branches of their banks are being closed and the numbers of folks walking away keep growing and growing, without rallies or marches, we can also vote with our action). - peace
The simple solution, is first sticking together no matter what the money whores say, and then telling our representatives and the presidents comment line, that we want to use U.S. debt free notes as currency, put the federal reserve on hiatus and convert those buildings to treasury buildings. The debt will slip into darkness. I am not so naive as to think the money-hos will remain idle, as I'm positive they will hatch yet another scheme to confuse the people into being their slaves again. So far this is all quite Biblical [ the killing of the 2 witnesses [ U.S.A. & U.K. ] because our prosperity was killed, and our being revived later on. We have to network with our fellow man and get it done!
Wipe the slate clean, and start again. Debt forgiveness has always happened throughout history, and we need it now, more than ever.
Brilliant documentary, thanks mr Stll!!!!!
Historically bank reserves have earnt no interest till as recently as 2008 and 0.25% after that. This documentary at the every beginning presents the fractional reserve system as enabling the banks to earn 6% by lending its reserves to the government and then again lending a multiple of those reserves.
What hope does it have of proposing a better system when it cant even present the existing sytem accurately.
So what is the solution if we are a consumption based society? The reasons tangible goods have to replaced so often, is so we have a need to purchase goods and services. What is the solution??? Bartering? Equal goods for everyone, which would mean everyone has to work and no handouts?
Now is the time we really need a Fight Club action.
The debt-free system would slow down production and capitalism. Today's US monetary system, though not perfect, has brought about the largest boom in World History. Hard to ignore that while we're all searching for the lesser-of-all-evils-system.
What needs to be done is End the Fed, go back to sound money, free market principles (if you think we have a free market system today you'd be wrong), let capitalism do it's detoxing properly (liquidate malinvestment, let banks fail - if you would let these banks and companies fail when the market calls for it we wouldn't be in predicaments today - and limit governments size and power.
I know the de-regulation argument has been beaten to death - and the one interesting thing about the debate is that half of the Wall Street'ers Ive spoken with say some of the de-regulation caused the crisis and the other half say the free market would do a better job regulating than government. They admitted there would be more violent volatility but you wouldn't have even CLOSE to the bubbles created today (government creates these bubbles with poor politics/policies - E.g. "Everyone should own a home! yay!")
When your government is spending 40% of the GDP you have problems and should probably start right there.
Anyone that thinks THE FED is legal and fair will soon see just how wrong they are.
When the economy crashes, caused by the fed, the fed will come up with plans to get your money and you will be scratching your head as to why.
Am I the only one who learned what the "fractional reserve banking system" is from an actual university not from weed and LSD?
This documentary should be under Conspiracy not Economics .
REALLY??? 11:30 on for a couple minutes, you really have to attack christianity to get your point across? Wow, stupid!
Yes, there are plenty of things wrong with the way we (the world, in general) handle currency and we've created a big mess: rising unemployment, food and water shortages, lack of natural resources, exploitation of labor, et cetera.
But what about population control? It seems to me that there are too many human beings on this earth given the limited resources we have. We have created a lifestyle for ourselves, at least, in the Western world, that is unsustainable given the present circumstances, but it seems we could sustain something very comfortable and close to what we have now (perhaps even better) with a lower global population and both current and future achievements in technology. The lack of abundance of cheap labor a lower (and hopefully more educated and intelligent) global population would offer could be overcome by technology; namely, robots, automation, etc. Companies have already begun replacing workers who perform mundane, mechanical tasks with robots that can work 24/7, take no lunch breaks or vacations, make a more consistent product, don't need benefits or a 401K and above all, save them money. I can't blame them; I'd do the same thing. It makes good business-sense.
Granted, there is no way to legislate such a thing, even if it were for the betterment of human civilization at large, without infringing on basic freedoms. I, for one, highly value any and all freedoms I have and resent any infringement that has been placed upon them, though I am aware that some of these restrictions, such as laws against robbery, murder and the like, protect me from people who might otherwise do so (or at least provide a deterrent), whatever the reason. Additionally, doing so would rely heavily on people's ability to reason and think independently and intelligently about the world, since there could not be a just system of law to regulate it, and as far as I can tell, people in general are pretty incompetent when it comes to thinking through things with any sort of thoughtfulness and thoroughness. So am I apparently.
DECENTRALIZE... putting all the power in the hands of the few causes corruption. That is the problem. If you do not get this simple solution then continue to put all your hopes and dreams in someone else's hands.
Ugh fixed currency is moronic when you understand economics and government monetary policy. The problem isnt debt its that we fail to pay it off when the economy is good.
congratulation for this job!