Money As Debt

Oct 30, 2007

—

Tim

in Tim

Where it all comes from

Is a mystery

It’s like the changing of the seasons

And the tides of the sea

But heres the one thats driving me berserk

Why do only fools and horses work

If you want to know where it all comes from, the film below has the answer. It is long (47 minutes) but it is worth it.

“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.” Kenneth Ewart Boulding

Paul Grignon’s 47-minute animated presentation of “Money as Debt” tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it … all Â» is being created. It is an entertaining way to get the message out.

It’s where it is

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Comments

17 responses to “Money As Debt”

Tech
31 October 2007
Fascinating – thanks for flagging that up Tim.
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Tim
31 October 2007
Jaw dropping, isn’t it.
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Gill
1 November 2007
OK, I get it now. Great stuff, thanks indeed. So what’s the solution? (Is there one?)
Itching to lose my mortgage now!
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Tim
1 November 2007
Gill, they never had the money they lent you in the first place. Just send them a cheque. 🙂
The solution? Well the best suggestion I have heard entails:
1) Make it illegal for individuals to create money. I.e. nationalise the pound.
2) Move from the current system where money is created on the basis of creating debt to one where it is based on assets. This could mean using something arbitrary, like gold as your standard, or alternatively, and while this sounds weird, it certainly sounds more sense than what we have, move to a system where we back our currency with infrastructure. I.e. we build a hospital, road, port or whatever, an asset, and issue currency backed by the value of that asset.
While I can see problems in managing this, they are certainly no worse than those implicit in the current system which commits us to infinite growth in a finite world.
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Gill
1 November 2007
My brain has put this on hold for now, pending a really big think. I don’t seem to have much choice in the matter!
The asset-based thing sounds ok for things I don’t own, and terrifying for things I do.
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Dani
1 November 2007
I’ve always known this – I first heard about it from my Dad, whose family were active in the social credit movement, which was quite strong in Australia. I haven’t read much about it, but thought it might be interesting here.
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Tech
1 November 2007
1 is never going to happen because our world is now run by and for banks; government would never get away with nationalising currency because their masters (the banks and big business) would not benefit.
*Good* read if you like true horror is The Silent Takeover.
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Tim
1 November 2007
Tech, in the end, this will have to be fixed because of the implicit problem of finite world/infinite growth. The catch is, as you rightly say, the banks have huge power and will want to prevent it. So long as it persists, it means that any programme like ‘Make Poverty History’ or any real action on things like climate change will be no more than pissing in the wind because the whole system is geared to moving wealth from poor people to rich people.
“Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money .”
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Gill
1 November 2007
I’ve kind of always known it too, but seeing it set out in such stark, unarguable terms is still a bit of a shock to the system – especially as bleary a system as mine is today! 🙄
It’s kind of obvious though when you think about it: evidence of prolific trading in debt is all around us. I remember feeling extremely perplexed back in about 1992 though to receive notice that the company I thought we owed our mortgage to had sold the debt on 3x without even bothering to inform us. That was when my little cogs started whirring on the subject! But there are lots of clues that add up to prove things are not as they seem, when you start looking, aren’t there?
The one thing I really disagreed with in the film was when it said something along the lines of: “Without the banks, we starve.” If this is really true, we need to address it ASAP, don’t we? Because it surely doesn’t have to be – we didn’t starve before them so why would we (en masse) afterwards?
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Tech
1 November 2007
There will certainly come a time when something has to be done, unfortunately I think it will involve extremely distressing upheaval for us all. I think this is what is behind the increasing interest in going off grid, and bushcraft; people are aware that a change is in the offing, if only subconsciously, and are attempting to be prepared for that change.
I’d heard it before too, but it took watching the video to make me realise why we are in the situation we are with regard increasing levels of personal debt, and to see just why third world debt will not be written off. It’s a hell of a world we live in. 🙁
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Tim
1 November 2007
Sorry, still reeling from the shock of learning I have just lent Â£730 to Northern Rock.
Yes, Tech, I think “extremely distressing upheaval” probably sums it up nicely.
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Gill
1 November 2007
Â£23bn?????
“So we are talking about total public-sector exposure to the Rock of Â£40bn – equivalent to around 3% of our entire economy.” ????
GASP 😯
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Tim
1 November 2007
More than enough to pay the MOD budget for a whole year.
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Gill
1 November 2007
So that’s a major news story, surely? I expect all the channels and papers are running it as their headline, of course…?
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Tech
1 November 2007
ROFLMAO @ Gill!
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Tim
1 November 2007
No, today’s headline is how it wasn’t Ian Blair’s fault that the Met is totally mismanaged. He is only in charge after all.
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Gill
2 November 2007
Oh how very interesting, in comparison to the fact we just (mostly unknowingly) spent in excess of our annual military budget bailing out a bank. 🙄
Still, it’s not even fake money now, is it? It’s… it’s… what can we call it? Spending our valuable debt?? *Brain explodes*
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