Our world balances on a sea of debt

[JohnyCanuck]

The banks that control the world’s supply of money are no better than counterfeiters – and their system of juggling debt has left the global economy teetering on the brink of ruin. Convicted fraudster Darius Guppy offers a provocative personal view

snip

A lot of nonsense has been written about the world’s current economic woes – about how the crash is the fault solely of the banks and, by implication, governments are blameless; and how it could all have been avoided, and can be put right, by greater financial regulation.

It is a classic example of what the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre terms “the fallacy of managerial expertise”: an attempt by “experts” to blind us with science to justify their overpaid existences and mask their confusion. After all, not one of them was able to predict the current debacle.

These “experts” will tell you that the present difficulties are simply the result of abuses and excesses in a system that is basically sound. All that is required is for some faults to be corrected. Do not believe them. The reality is that the problem is systemic and a little tinkering here or there will achieve nothing in the long term.

What is needed is a root-and-branch re‑evaluation of that most curious of cultural inventions, money: how it is created, how it circulates, and how it can best be used to serve the interests of the community.

snip

It is a simple and devastatingly effective swindle, but largely invisible because it has become so deeply embedded in our culture. The consequences of that swindle – the desperate need for economic growth; the environmental and cultural despoliation it engenders – require some radical thinking one encounters nowhere in any of today’s political parties.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/7280559/Our-world-balances-on-a-sea-of-debt.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Debt was sold wholesale to the world as "credit" and credit was a good thing.

I always wondered where the money was going to come from when the bill was due.

[roamer65]

2. ...from the central bank creation of more money (aka debt)

Feed that money into the fractional reserve banking system and the whole process starts all over again. How we really pay for it is in the hidden tax, called "inflation".

[Ghost Dog]

11. It is paid by the loss of quality of life people begin to suffer, as will future generations.

Loss of quality; quality foregone in terms of human standards and in terms of environmental degradation and probable species suicide.

[ThomWV]

3. When I started College I asked myself what I would need to know most about in life

And the conclusion I came to was that I had to study Economics. The reason was I came to understand that I knew nothing about what money was, how it flowed through our economy, and where my place in it might be. I did not want to be poor anymore and I thought, well, if I do not understand money I'll dam sure never have any. So I chose Economics as my major and went on about the business of taking degrees.

As for Economics, I still don't understand it.

[Mike 03]

4. Thought-Provoking. Thank you, Kick and Rec.

Not certain I believe absolutely everything in this article, but it is worth considering.

[AllentownJake]

5. The entire system is a Ponzi scheme and has been since the 1980s

The trouble with Ponzi schemes is the person who designs them, generally fucks up on the escape part.

Being the fact that your goal is to rip people off, you are naturally greedy, and being naturally greedy you want to stay in as long as fucking possible to maximize your profit.

Also, you can't really control when people realize you are a fucking liar. Generally when that happens, you seek the protection of prison from angry investors who are blocking your escape.

[The2ndWheel]

14. B.C.?

[marmar]

6. And the inflatable raft is just about out of air.....

[JohnyCanuck]

7. Video Oh Canada Explains how the debt based monetary system works

in the Canadian context. Contains some interesting interviews with some somewhat out of their depth Canadian politicians, including former Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin.

NB: I find to get the video going you have to slide the little box on the progress bar (next to the pause/start button) a bit to the right. Just clicking on the start arrow doesn't work.

Watch it here http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvp.video.google.com%2Fvideodownload%3Fversion%3D0%26secureurl%3DjAAAAKrkXGu9SudVbh_PGxa5tayCA6ynpFIXl5_gD9Z-cK5kFnPkmv2l8SImk3B_ieO3DHRfB3ePwPCgTzBs0Sa4dzLBixPB5OBFJ9BVY48aaLPso7s0JI8asz1e0lGNNBueRWzf3328w4DfRzOgvDfOoi-yOhoMhKW83Gsii6Ldn_CJn48jB3hNdNskvRkjX530Bw%26sigh%3DhhazfMOi0UgfKpT1jqi8Ak83zBU%26begin%3D0%26len%3D2147483647%26docid%3D0&hl

You can also purchase a copy on DVD here: http://www.ohcanadamovie.com/

[kimmerspixelated]

8. When you read about the history of money,

You find that really so much that circulates is really the idea of money. The idea of what you have earned is just a number on a piece of paper. The idea of what's in the bank is a shuffling of numbers and buttons pushed on the computer. Money is the grand illusion.

[whyverne]

9. This is why many people say that they don't understand economics.

You don't understand it because it really doesn't make any sense.

The truth is not that these institutions have suddenly become insolvent but that they were never really solvent in the first place.

Say I'm Joe the Plumber. I want to get a lot of business so I advertise that you don't have to pay me right away, you can pay a little every month. When I can't pay my bills I say, "But I'm rich, all these people owe me money".

It's not a good business model.

[upi402]

12. Economics is an invalid school

It's based on a prime, foundational premise; That people will act in their own, best economic interest.

I can disprove the entire school of economics with 2 words; credit cards

[Goldstein1984]

10. I don't know what to say about this, except...

I believe it because it fits my cynical views regarding economics and politics.

Things are going to get much much worse.

[Hannah Bell]

13. that article is an example of mistaking the map for the territory, & so are most of the comments on

this thread.

wealth ain't paper money & it ain't gold, & credit is just a system to get work done before paying for it.

the problem is that money allows the elision of to whom the payment is actually due.