Whenever I have described fractional reserve banking to a friend or colleague who is not a banking specialist, they all say, No, it can't be that way! Nobody would accept that! Then I describe fiat currency and they say the same thing. There are a few curious smart people who are open to learning, and they realize the inevitable slippery slope such a system engenders, but the vast majority of people just say, it can't be that way, somebody at the government must be supervising it, blah, blah, blah. Most people ARE NOT CAPABLE of juggling disparate pieces of information that are contradictory or upsetting. A few years ago I read a book on the history of money or finances, and I remember an event where Mayer Rothschild was traveling with some political envoy and he was going to make some financing proposal to some politicians. The proposal was along the lines of fractional reserves, fiat, etc. The envoy said it wouldn't work and Rothschild said something along the lines of - It will be so profitable for the architects of the system that they won't object, and to the masses who don't benefit, they won't believe you even if you tell them directly how it works. -
I agree completely that sound money is the most fair and just system, but it forces all economic growth to be organic, which is much slower than financially engineered inflationary growth. So it is inevitable that opportunists will ALWAYS manipulate the system through fraud. Every history I have read concerning coins going back to ancient Greece indicated that the system always starts out honest, and rapidly the coins began to be clipped and counterfeited.
When the Ruble was slammed in the currency markets and then rebounded within 24 hours of Putin announcing the ruble would be backed by gold, I thought the jig was up. But to my dismay, it was not. Just as Rothschild said, even when the system is directly explained, or even better, demonstrated right in front of your eyes, , most people will not believe it. Still, I continue to try to educate people when I get into discussions about it, and I do reach somebody once in a while. You are certainly reaching many thinkers who are capable of seeing the big picture once they get accurate data, like you supply. Another aspect beyond fractional reserve and fiat, is the US dollar being the world reserve currency. Without this status, the state department and intelligence agencies could not conjure billions out of thin air to "persuade" foreign politicians and businessmen to allow and support coups, assassinations, military bases, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and who knows what else.
Thanks for writing such a long comment for the benefit of all subscriber here Kev. You will certainly enjoy part II, on which I'm putting the finishing touches on now. Sadly, we live in a debt based monetary system in which all fiat currency on the planet would disappear overnight if there were no debts (thus I don't know how anyone could choose to save in any fiat currency over debt free gold, silver or platinum). John Maynard Keynes (at least I think it was him off the top of my head) once said less than 1 in a million understand the basis behind our global monetary (debt) system so don't be discouraged if you only have spoken to a few dozen people all of whom deny your explanation of our monetary system. Today I think the number that truly understand is less than 1 in a hundred million, so perhaps you only have 99,999,976 more people with whom to speak, and you'll find one that finally understands. We can only put truth out there (which I admire you for doing even though it is enjoyable as pulling teeth) and it is up to those whom we lead to truth to finally consume it or reject it, but we can't make them accept it. We tell enough people, eventually the truth will spread from the few that accept it.
Thanks John. I enjoyed that article. I'm interested in more articles about Sound Money as well as times in history when there was no income tax. I'm led to believe by reliable sources (I'm yet to investigate myself) that some of the more prosperous times in history were periods where there was no income tax collected and that there are ways to exist and pay for societies collective needs without State collected income tax. Cheers, r.
I write about the history of the income tax in my Academy. There used to be a time when a federal income tax was never levied except to fund war and then slowly Central Bankers added a federal income tax and kept increasing it until they determined the maximum percentages at which they could tap us before revolt would happen. A US mutual fund manager provides a prime example of how onerous this tax is when he renounced his citizenship in his 50s and became a Bahamian citizen which enabled hm to leave billions, yes billions with a B, more to his children upon his death.
Gold is not portable and any representation requires a "trusted" 3rd party. The push back to "crypto" from the "authorities" makes me suspect it may be a solution. We shall see.
Whenever I have described fractional reserve banking to a friend or colleague who is not a banking specialist, they all say, No, it can't be that way! Nobody would accept that! Then I describe fiat currency and they say the same thing. There are a few curious smart people who are open to learning, and they realize the inevitable slippery slope such a system engenders, but the vast majority of people just say, it can't be that way, somebody at the government must be supervising it, blah, blah, blah. Most people ARE NOT CAPABLE of juggling disparate pieces of information that are contradictory or upsetting. A few years ago I read a book on the history of money or finances, and I remember an event where Mayer Rothschild was traveling with some political envoy and he was going to make some financing proposal to some politicians. The proposal was along the lines of fractional reserves, fiat, etc. The envoy said it wouldn't work and Rothschild said something along the lines of - It will be so profitable for the architects of the system that they won't object, and to the masses who don't benefit, they won't believe you even if you tell them directly how it works. -
I agree completely that sound money is the most fair and just system, but it forces all economic growth to be organic, which is much slower than financially engineered inflationary growth. So it is inevitable that opportunists will ALWAYS manipulate the system through fraud. Every history I have read concerning coins going back to ancient Greece indicated that the system always starts out honest, and rapidly the coins began to be clipped and counterfeited.
When the Ruble was slammed in the currency markets and then rebounded within 24 hours of Putin announcing the ruble would be backed by gold, I thought the jig was up. But to my dismay, it was not. Just as Rothschild said, even when the system is directly explained, or even better, demonstrated right in front of your eyes, , most people will not believe it. Still, I continue to try to educate people when I get into discussions about it, and I do reach somebody once in a while. You are certainly reaching many thinkers who are capable of seeing the big picture once they get accurate data, like you supply. Another aspect beyond fractional reserve and fiat, is the US dollar being the world reserve currency. Without this status, the state department and intelligence agencies could not conjure billions out of thin air to "persuade" foreign politicians and businessmen to allow and support coups, assassinations, military bases, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and who knows what else.
Thanks for writing such a long comment for the benefit of all subscriber here Kev. You will certainly enjoy part II, on which I'm putting the finishing touches on now. Sadly, we live in a debt based monetary system in which all fiat currency on the planet would disappear overnight if there were no debts (thus I don't know how anyone could choose to save in any fiat currency over debt free gold, silver or platinum). John Maynard Keynes (at least I think it was him off the top of my head) once said less than 1 in a million understand the basis behind our global monetary (debt) system so don't be discouraged if you only have spoken to a few dozen people all of whom deny your explanation of our monetary system. Today I think the number that truly understand is less than 1 in a hundred million, so perhaps you only have 99,999,976 more people with whom to speak, and you'll find one that finally understands. We can only put truth out there (which I admire you for doing even though it is enjoyable as pulling teeth) and it is up to those whom we lead to truth to finally consume it or reject it, but we can't make them accept it. We tell enough people, eventually the truth will spread from the few that accept it.
Well said, Kev.
Thanks John. I enjoyed that article. I'm interested in more articles about Sound Money as well as times in history when there was no income tax. I'm led to believe by reliable sources (I'm yet to investigate myself) that some of the more prosperous times in history were periods where there was no income tax collected and that there are ways to exist and pay for societies collective needs without State collected income tax. Cheers, r.
I write about the history of the income tax in my Academy. There used to be a time when a federal income tax was never levied except to fund war and then slowly Central Bankers added a federal income tax and kept increasing it until they determined the maximum percentages at which they could tap us before revolt would happen. A US mutual fund manager provides a prime example of how onerous this tax is when he renounced his citizenship in his 50s and became a Bahamian citizen which enabled hm to leave billions, yes billions with a B, more to his children upon his death.
Thanks John, looking forward to sinking my teeth into the Academy. Thanks for your response.
Gold is not portable and any representation requires a "trusted" 3rd party. The push back to "crypto" from the "authorities" makes me suspect it may be a solution. We shall see.