This is the longest thread I've ever posted. Any of you guys reading this at DP will want to get a cup of coffee and get relaxed before reading it, because it is VERY long. But it is the best thing I've ever read online, and sums up my thoughts of finance and debt, and why America is falling. Billions for Bankers, Debts for the People by Sheldon Emry Introduction In 1901 the national debt of the United States was less than $1 billion. It stayed at less than $1 billion until we got into World War I. Then it jumped to $25 billion. The national debt nearly doubled between World War I and World War II, increasing from $25 to $49 billion. Between 1942 and 1952, the debt zoomed from $72 billion to $265 billion. In 1962 it was $303 billion. By 1970, the debt had increased to $383 billion. Between 1971 and 1976 it rose from $409 billion to $631 billion. The debt experienced its greatest growth, however, during the 1980's, fueled by an unprecedented peacetime military buildup. In 1998, the outstanding public debt will roar past $5.5 trillion. The unconstitutional "share" of this debt for every man, woman and child is currently $20,594.86 and will continue to increase an average of $630 million every day, which doesn't include the $26 trillion in individual credit card debts, mortgages, automobile leases and so on. U.S. NATIONAL DEBT The Outstanding Public Debt as of 08/25/98 at 10:28:37 AM PDT is: $5,516,699,306,752.93 The estimated population of the United States is 270,374,697 So each citizen's share of this debt is $20,403.90. Today, as we stand before the dawn of a New World Order run by internationalist financiers, most of the revenue collected by the Federal government in the form of individual income taxes will go straight to paying the interest on the debt alone. At the rate the debt is increasing, eventually we'll reach a point where, even if the government takes every penny of its citizens' income via taxation, it will still not collect enough to keep up with the interest payments. The government will own nothing, the people will own nothing, and the banks will own everything. The New World Order will foreclose on America. If the present trend continues, and there is no evidence whatsoever that it will not continue, we can expect the national debt to nearly double again within the next six to eight years. By then, the interest on the debt alone should be in the $400 billion a year range. Prologue: Three Types of Conquest History reveals nations can be conquered by the use of one or more of three methods. The most common is conquest by war. In time, though, this method usually fails, because the captives hate the captors and rise up and drive them out if they can. Much force is needed to maintain control, making it expensive for the conquering nation. A second method is by religion, where men are convinced they must give their captors part of their earnings as "obedience to God." Such a captivity is vulnerable to philosophical exposure or by overthrow by armed force, since religion by its nature lacks military force to regain control, once its captives become disillusioned. The third method can be called economic conquest. It takes place when nations are placed under "tribute" without the use of visible force or coercion, so that the victims do not realize they have been conquered. "Tribute" is collected from them in the form of "legal" debts and taxes, and they believe they are paying it for their own good, for the good of others, or to protect all from some enemy. Their captors become their "benefactors" and "protectors". Although this is the slowest to impose, it is often quite long lasting, as the captives do not see any military force arrayed against them, their religion is left more or less intact, they have freedom to speak and travel, and they participate in "elections" for their rulers. Without realizing it, they are conquered, and the instruments of their own society are used to transfer their wealth to their captors and make the conquest complete. In 1900 the average American worker paid few taxes and had little debt. Last year, payments on debts and taxes took more than half of what he earned. Is it possible a form of conquest has been imposed on America? Read the following pages and decide for yourself. And may God have mercy on this once debt-free and great nation. The Real Story of Money Control in America Americans, living in what is called the richest nation on earth, seem always to be short of money. It's impossible for many families to make ends meet unless both parents are in the work force. Men and women hope for overtime hours or take part time jobs evenings and weekends; children look for odd jobs for spending money; the family debt climbs higher. Psychologists say one of the biggest causes of family quarrels and break-ups is "arguing over money." Much of this trouble can be traced to our present "debt-money" system. Too few Americans realize why the Founders wrote into Article I of the U. S. Constitution: "Congress shall have the power to coin money and regulate the value thereof." They did this, as we will show, in the hope that it would prevent "love of money" from destroying the Republic they had founded. We shall see how subversion of Article I has brought on us the "evil" of which God warns us in 1 Timothy 6:10. Money is "Created", Not Grown or Built. Economists use the term "create" when speaking of the process by which money comes into existence. "Creation" means making something which did not exist before. Lumber workers make boards from trees, workers build houses from lumber, and factories manufacture automobiles from metal, glass and other materials. But in all these they did not actually "create." They only changed existing materials into a more usable and, therefore, more valuable form. This is not so with money. Here, and here alone, man actually "creates" something out of nothing. A piece of paper of little value is printed so that it is worth a piece of lumber. With different figures it can buy the automobile or even the house. It's value has been "created" in the truest sense of the word. "Creating" money is very profitable! As is seen by the above, money is very cheap to make, and whoever does the "creating" of money in a nation can make a tremendous profit. Builders work hard to make a profit of 5 percent above their cost to build a house. Auto makers sell their cars for 1 percent to 2 percent above the cost of manufacture and it is considered good business. But money "manufacturers" have no limit on their profits, since a few cents will print a $1 bill or a $10,000 bill. That profit is part of our story, but first let's consider another unique characteristic of the thing -- money, the love of which is the "root of all evil". Adequate money supply needed An adequate supply of money is indispensable to civilized society. We could forego many other things, but without money, industry would grind to a halt, farms would become only self-sustaining units, surplus food would disappear, jobs requiring the work of more than one man or one family would remain undone, shipping and large movement of goods would cease, hungry people would plunder and kill to remain alive, and all government except family or tribe would cease to function. An overstatement, you say? Not at all. Money is the blood of civilized society, the means of all commercial trade except simple barter. It is the measure and the instrument by which one product is sold and another purchased. Remove money or even reduce the supply below that which is necessary to carry on current levels of trade, and the results are catastrophic. For an example, we need only look at America's depression of the early 1930's. Bankers' Depression of the 1930's. In 1930 America did not lack industrial capacity, fertile farmlands, skilled and willing workers or industrious families. It had an extensive and efficient transportation system in railroads, road networks, and inland and ocean waterways. Communications between regions and localities were the best in the world, utilizing telephone, teletype, radio, and a well operated government mail system. No war had ravaged the cities or the countryside, no pestilence weakened the population, nor had famine stalked the land. The United States of America in 1930 lacked only one thing: an adequate supply of money to carry on trade and commerce. In the early 1930s, bankers, the only source of new money and credit, deliberately refused loans to industries, stores and farms. Payments on existing loans were required however, and money rapidly disappeared from circulation. Goods were available to be purchased, jobs waiting to be done, but the lack of money brought the nation to a standstill. By this simple ploy America was put into a "depression" and bankers took possession of hundreds of thousands of farms, homes, and business properties. The people were told, "times are hard" and "money is short." Not understanding the system, they were cruelly robbed of their earnings, their savings, and their property. No Money for Peace, but Plenty for War. World War II ended the "depression." The same Bankers who in the early 1930's had no loans for peacetime houses, food and clothing, suddenly had unlimited billions to lend for army barracks, k-rations and uniforms. A nation that in 1934 could not produce food for sale, suddenly could produce bombs to send free to bomb Germany and Japan! (More on this riddle later). With the sudden increase in money, people were hired, farms sold their produce, factories went to two shifts, mines reopened, and "The Great Depression" was over! Some politicians were blamed for it, and others took credit for ending it. The truth is the lack of money (caused by Bankers) brought on the depression, and adequate money ended it. The people were never told that simple truth and in this article we will endeavor to show how these same bankers who control our money and credit have used their control to plunder America and place us in bondage.
Contraction and expansion of money supply is a never ending cycle that repeats over and over again. And will likely do so forever. Why? Human nature. In the above article they make the claim that banks contracted the money supply and created the depression. Well, sort of. What they do not mention is the wild expansion of money supply in the 1920's leading up to that. In the "roaraing 20's" world economies were cranking along at full capacity. Money was everywhere. Stock markets were going through the roof and it seemed like the party would never end. (Remember the tech boom in late 1990's, same thing) People always over do things. When it looks like the only thing you can do is make nothing but money, its easy to borrow money to make more money. And the banks are more than happy to lend it. But eventually people start to realize this can't go on forever. And when they do, the house of cards collpases under them. Economies begin to contract, business are making less money and the banks do not see the viability in lending money during these periods. Why? Because it increases the probability the loan cannot be paid back. So the contraction deepens, and Doom and Gloom sets into the mindset of the population. People are scared to spend their money so less goes into the system. But this too cannot last forever. Often wars are started at the low point in this phase. Why? the mass doom and gloom attitude is contagious. Everybody is pissed off and blame the other for it. Eventually the gloves come off and a fight begins. This sets the stage for the cycle to reverse again. The war allows aggression and anger to be released, and has the added benefit of employement as governments open the pocket books and spend like crazy. Money starts flowing again. After the war is over there is infrastructure to rebuild, more spending to be done and ample employment for all. Now with the cycle in the upswing societie's mood improves and people are confident and begin spending again, business are profitable again, and banks are happy to lend again. More money is being made, and more money is being borrowed (created) to make more money. Greed takes over again and sets the runaway train heading for the precipice at full speed once again. Boom, bust, boom, bust, boom, bust.............. The article also does not mention the number of banks that went bankrupt during the depression. Banks make shit tonnes of money during the expansion phase but also risk loosing shit tonnes during the contraction. Many loans do not get payed off and the bank cannot recover all the money it lent out. Even from those who lost their home, or farm or business, because the bank repossesed them to try to recover their capital, the bank does not sit rosey and risk free here. During this period of money contraction the bank can't find buyers of these properties and assets, so they are sold off at a heaviliy discounted prices to try and recover some money and minimize the loss. Expect to see this again in the real estate market, soonish even. For those who have heard about housing prices going through the roof. You can't avoid it even if you barely listen to news. Well , that's a market in a frenzy about to top out. And those who buy at the top will be losing money. They borrowed money from the bank to buy the highly inflated prices. And now interest rates are starting to climb, as the government (central banks) do this to reign in the out of hand borrowing and spending of cheap money. So when their mortgage payements start to increase and the value of the home decreases people will soon discover they can no longer afford to own that nice big new home. So they need to sell. But so does everyone else and a shit tonne of homes go onto the market. But nobody wants to buy because intrest rates are higher, so homes get sold at lower prices. supply/demand. And the market crashes.
http://www.aier.org/fb.html You'll find this is a great book on how the banks transitioned.... From the website: Breaking The Banks: Central Banking Problems And Free Banking Solutions Would you entrust your hard-earned savings to a confidence racket? Whether you know it or not, you may already have done so. The U.S. banking system, which was built on the Government's promises of "safety" for all depositors, is beginning to look more and more like a giant scam. The half-trillion dollar S and L debacle already ranks as the largest financial scandal in human history and may end up costing each of us taxpayers thousands of dollars. For many years, we have warned that Government policy has confounded sound banking practice, and that new Government measures to "protect" us could make things even worse. This authoritative book, Breaking the Banks: Central Banking Problems and Free Banking Solutions, tells you why the banking crisis developed and what can be done about it. Did you know that: the present banking system actually invites fraud and incompetence; the safety performance of U.S. banks during the least-regulated period in our history was superior to that of virtually any bank or thrift institution operating today; a chief beneficiary of banking regulation has been not the public, but the Government itself? Central banking has failed to improve upon what Nobel economist Friedrich Hayek called "the spontaneous social order" of free banking, a failure that can be seen as a special case of the general failure of central economic planning. More precisely, it is the difference between private planning based on economic profit and bureaucratic planning based on political expediency. The money and banking system is too important to our freedom and our economic prosperity to be left to political manipulation. The system should be placed on an objective foundation of free-market principles and removed from the subjective quicksands of political manipulation. It should be governed by the rule of law and contract, not by the arbitrary rule of men. We know this has been the most useful approach in every other branch of industry. It is time to discover it in money and banking. Free banking offers an exciting, innovative, and prudent alternative to the central banking system that has destroyed sound money and sound banking. Excerpted from Breaking the Banks Breaking the Banks demonstrates that there are compelling civic as well as personal reasons to restore free banking in the United States, and we believe that it belongs in the library of every concerned citizen
You're right Rick_Michael. The banking system is a fraud, because it is a fractional reserve banking system. The bank always loans out more money than it has, because they know all their customers won't come into take all their money out at once. Axemedia, I have a hard time believing that depressions just happen by themselves, especially when the Federal Reserve prints the money we use. Yes, many banks fell during the Great Depression, but those where the no name banks. The Rockefellers, Morgans, and other powerful American families became more wealthy than ever. Why? It isn't because they just got lucky. They knew the bubble was going to pop, and they got out before it did. Whoever prints the money can create inflation and deflation by putting too much money into circulation, or taking a lot out circulation. This is what Greenspan did, and it is what Bernanke is doing right now. The existence of the Federal Reserve is against the Constitution of the United States, which says that money should only be coined and regulated by the US treasury. The Federal reserve act, which was passed in 1913, basically setup the Federal Reserve and doomed the US: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Act
our system is still based off of "trust". We are all trusting it won't crash and the banks can hold our money safely. The entire system could topple at any moment, people buying on margin so much, similar to right before the great depression. We cannot control our economy, debt raises while specific people get rich in our government. Isn't capitalism so great?
Capitalism is the antithesis of Communism. While everyone knows Communism doesn't work, few realize that our current system won't work, because it is not a free market. Companies like Walmart are running small grocery stores out of town, and who can compete with fortune 500 companies? If we could get rid of the income tax, that would solve a lot of the problems. If we taxed products and service instead, the US would suddenly become the most tax friendly place in the world. Outsourcing would disappear, because corps from all over the world would want to come here to do business. The second thing we need to do is abolish the Federal Reserve. Give the power to coin money back the US treasury. If we can switch to a gold standard, I think it is possible to erase the national debt within a few years.
To be fair to communism...it's never really been tried. Dictators throw the world around to get support, they never had the intention to give up their power which is what communism would require.
Every idealogy fails to see that alpha-male mentality will always try to exploit the situation. It's not an political idealogy, it's a morality that we have to constantly indentify and adapt to, while maintian a balance with reason.
Our current tax policy is to tax companies registered in America--even if there in another country as well. We're one of the few doing this, so people are registering elsewhere...where it use to be most of the tax money came from corporation. Ideally we'd just have uniform tariffs, and constitutional requirements for reasons to apply income taxes in emergencies. It's reasonable if we are attacked or our congress declares war (which usually doesn't do) then we can temporily supply funds towards the war. I disagree From the book: 1)Permit Free Banking 2)Allow unrestrictd Mergers and Aquisitions 3)Phase out government deposit insurance 4)Permit private banking notes 5)Permit gold-based banking 6)Repeal legal tender laws 7)Discontinue open market operations 8)Close the discount window 9)Privatize the Federal Reserve system The reasoning is in the book. Generally, the government shouldn't be involved in credit. It's financing should be limited to that which is constitutional or that which is reasonable to the survival of the Republic...in nearly 90% of the circumstance both combine.
Tesla, why is wal-mart so bad? Everything is cheaper for the customer. Yes they close local shops, but those people can just get jobs with walmart. For the average consumer walmart is a benefit, for the entrepreneur, well it makes life harder, but who said life is not hard? Retail is a crappy business to be in anyway, you dont add any value to the world. Before walmart, all profits from local shops were spread out to millions of people, and everything was more expensive because of it. Now, because profits go to a select few people (wal mart shareholders), the public seems more upset, even though it actually makes everything cheaper.