Leading up to Thanksgiving, I will do a series of messages on gratitude. This is the first. Have a good week y'all.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
ILLUSTRATED THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
Leading up to Thanksgiving, I will do a series of messages on gratitude. This is the first. Have a good week y'all.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Charmaine Zoe Moving Mandalas
How about another peaceful video from Charmaine Zoe? This is truly amazing.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
ILLUSTRATED THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
Brian posted this on facebook a couple of weeks ago and I use it here with a star made from succulent foliage.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
ILLUSTRATED THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
I have started on this year's Christmas card design and expect to use this in the center of a mandala. Here, I have paired it with a fifth Chinese proverb.
Enjoy.
Bob
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Follow the Money
This is an excerpt from Bruce Lipton's latest book written with Steve Bhaerman. I have long thought that the debate between liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican is more or less irrelevant. No one in mainstream politics is addressing the issue these authors raise here.
*******
I think many of us have been afraid that Obama would get shot on racial issues; but if either he or any other president, had the courage to abolish the Federal Reserve Bank; they would probably sign their own death warrant.
*******
Spontaneous Evolution
Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman pages 303-306
Follow the Money
“So where does money- be it in dollars, pounds, francs, or euros-come from? Why, from the Federal Reserve Bank, the Bank of England, and the European Central Bank, respectively. The titles of these money-issuing entities sound very impressive and give the notion that they are governmental institutions whose mission is the well being of the commonwealth. Not so. Each of these banks is a privately held corporation imbued with the primary corporate mission to make money for its fortunate shareholders.
To understand how a bank brings money into existence, consider what happens when you go to a bank for a loan. Perhaps you think that the money you borrow is another person’s savings, invested in the bank to earn interest. That is not the case at all. Money issuing banks operate on a fractional reserve system, which means they can print a quantity of bank notes equal to nine times the value of their customer’s deposits. They literally create 90 percent of the money out of thin air!
How do privately owned banks fulfill their corporate mission to make a profit? They loan money for which they charge interest-10 percent interest equals 10 percent profit.
So let’s say you borrow $1000, the privilege for which you must pay the bank $1,100. Where do you get the extra $100? Well, from selling your goods or services to other people. True-but where do they get the money to pay you? Oh yes-they borrow from the same bank, which, of course charges them interest, too.
Let’s say a country has a population of 1 million people and each citizen borrows $1000 from the bank to create an economy based on currency exchange. Collectively, the bank loans the country $1 billion dollars in bank notes. In return, the country owes the bank $1 billion dollars for the loan’s principal, plus another $100 million for the interest. So where does the country get the extra $100 million dollars in currency to pay the bank? It doesn’t. It can’t.
That’s because the country can only borrow and repay money-and not create it-and because only banks can create money.
This issuing of a national currency solely by private banks results in a debt based economy in which there is never enough money in circulation to pay both the principal and interest. It’s only through continual economic growth-and the demand for new loans-that enough money can be created to repay the original loan. In other words, borrowing can only beget more borrowing.
Inevitably, the compounding of the debt leads to a situation in which creditor insolvency motivates banks to foreclose on loans. The debtor’s property, used as collateral for the loan, is confiscated and distributed amongst the bank’s shareholders. Because the value of the money loaned by the banks was never equal to the value of the collateral, the shareholders happily accept foreclosures.
This persistent pattern in the money game can be traced back to ancient Babylon. Centuries before Jesus cast the money changers from the temple, the priests of Baal had their own money racket. Each spring, they would extend credit to farmers to plant their crops. At harvest time, the priests expected payment. However, because the priests also regulated the money supply, they made sure there was never enough money in circulation for all the farmers to repay their loans. This led to more credit being extended, which meant that at the next harvest, the debt was even greater. Repeating the same pattern over a number of years led to the farmers becoming indentured servants to the priests, who produced nothing. The Babylonian civilization eventually collapsed when the productive elements of society were reduced to little more than slaves.
Visionary economist Richard Kotlatz recognized that the same pattern of exploitation, that is, “borrowing money into circulation, then withholding more money to make debt service impossible,” reverberated throughout the ancient societies of Persia, Greece, and Rome with the same effect. The practice later found resurgence in the era of colonialism and empire. It can be seen today in the policies of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other financial institutions. Their economic hit men of the globalization era hit on underdeveloped nations, promising freedom through credit for development but delivering slavery through debt. The consequence of such exploitive economies is that they always end up killing the proverbial golden goose from which the tangible value originated.
We see the same sad scenario being played out today as executives with golden parachutes bail out of once-productive, but now indebted companies, closing factories and leaving workers unemployed. Even though real wealth- the productive potential of available resources and willing workers- is in place, the means of exchange, the currency, has been extracted from the system. There isn’t enough money available to purchase goods or pay workers for their services.
No wonder visionaries like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison fought against the establishment of a national bank in the United States. They understood that political freedom was not possible under a system of economic exploitation. Without the ability to coin debt free currency based on the value of natural wealth, an entire society would eventually fall into the perpetual in-debt status of those farmers in ancient Babylon.
Jefferson was quite prophetic when he wrote: “If the American people ever allow the banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property, until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power of money should be taken from banks and restored to Congress and the people to whom it belongs. I sincerely believe that banking institutions having the issuing power of money, are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies.”
As the current economic crisis reveals, the amount of money in circulation doesn’t necessarily represent the wealth of a society. For example, consider that America’s farm production during the Depression in 1933, was roughly the same as it was in 1929 before the stock market crash. And yet, the monetary value of total farm income was half of what it had been four years earlier! As economist Carl H. Wilkens points out, the harvest of 1933 had the same number of calories as the harvest four years earlier. If our currency were truly a store of value, the value of farm production would not have been reduced by half.
The variable nature of our money’s value has profoundly undermined our natural economy and given rise to a totally unnatural one. David Korten, author of Agenda for a New Economy, bluntly described our current financial system as a “money game in which the players use money to make money for people who have money, without producing anything of value.”
Citing Kevin Phillip’s book, Bad Money, Korten compares the economy of America at its peak of global power in 1950 with the economy of today. In 1950, manufacturing accounted for 29.3 percent of the United States gross domestic product(GDP). By 2005, manufacturing was down to a mere 12 percent, while so-called financial services, meaning money invested into money markets, accounted for more than 20 percent of the GDP.
Hedge funds, an example of a financial service that was barely a shrub on the economic landscape 20 years ago, have now grown to over $1.8 trillion in assets. These risky ventures, which use borrowed money to borrow more money, totaled some $14 trillion in 2006.
The new word for borrowing is leveraging and the now defunct Lehman Brothers was leveraged 35 to one, meaning that it had borrowed $35 on every dollar of its equity. Lehman’s bankruptcy has left its unsecured creditors with over $200 billion in losses.
In the world of money marketing, Wall Street’s short-term gain end up as Mains Street’s long term loss. Korten reported that over a period of roughly three decades, “the benefits of productivity gains in the Main Street economy were captured by Wall Street players as interest, dividends, and financial service fees.”
In an attempt to make ends meet in an economy where the real value of the dollar was plummeting, the American consumer began to borrow money to pay for their consumable goods. Why, you can even use your credit card to purchase fast food, adding debt while you add calories. Financial institutions were all too willing to extend credit, and by 2007,personal household mortgage and credit card debt stood at $14.8 trillion, which is roughly the equivalent of that yeat’s GDP! Time for another round of foreclosures!”
*******
I think many of us have been afraid that Obama would get shot on racial issues; but if either he or any other president, had the courage to abolish the Federal Reserve Bank; they would probably sign their own death warrant.
*******
Spontaneous Evolution
Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman pages 303-306
Follow the Money
“So where does money- be it in dollars, pounds, francs, or euros-come from? Why, from the Federal Reserve Bank, the Bank of England, and the European Central Bank, respectively. The titles of these money-issuing entities sound very impressive and give the notion that they are governmental institutions whose mission is the well being of the commonwealth. Not so. Each of these banks is a privately held corporation imbued with the primary corporate mission to make money for its fortunate shareholders.
To understand how a bank brings money into existence, consider what happens when you go to a bank for a loan. Perhaps you think that the money you borrow is another person’s savings, invested in the bank to earn interest. That is not the case at all. Money issuing banks operate on a fractional reserve system, which means they can print a quantity of bank notes equal to nine times the value of their customer’s deposits. They literally create 90 percent of the money out of thin air!
How do privately owned banks fulfill their corporate mission to make a profit? They loan money for which they charge interest-10 percent interest equals 10 percent profit.
So let’s say you borrow $1000, the privilege for which you must pay the bank $1,100. Where do you get the extra $100? Well, from selling your goods or services to other people. True-but where do they get the money to pay you? Oh yes-they borrow from the same bank, which, of course charges them interest, too.
Let’s say a country has a population of 1 million people and each citizen borrows $1000 from the bank to create an economy based on currency exchange. Collectively, the bank loans the country $1 billion dollars in bank notes. In return, the country owes the bank $1 billion dollars for the loan’s principal, plus another $100 million for the interest. So where does the country get the extra $100 million dollars in currency to pay the bank? It doesn’t. It can’t.
That’s because the country can only borrow and repay money-and not create it-and because only banks can create money.
This issuing of a national currency solely by private banks results in a debt based economy in which there is never enough money in circulation to pay both the principal and interest. It’s only through continual economic growth-and the demand for new loans-that enough money can be created to repay the original loan. In other words, borrowing can only beget more borrowing.
Inevitably, the compounding of the debt leads to a situation in which creditor insolvency motivates banks to foreclose on loans. The debtor’s property, used as collateral for the loan, is confiscated and distributed amongst the bank’s shareholders. Because the value of the money loaned by the banks was never equal to the value of the collateral, the shareholders happily accept foreclosures.
This persistent pattern in the money game can be traced back to ancient Babylon. Centuries before Jesus cast the money changers from the temple, the priests of Baal had their own money racket. Each spring, they would extend credit to farmers to plant their crops. At harvest time, the priests expected payment. However, because the priests also regulated the money supply, they made sure there was never enough money in circulation for all the farmers to repay their loans. This led to more credit being extended, which meant that at the next harvest, the debt was even greater. Repeating the same pattern over a number of years led to the farmers becoming indentured servants to the priests, who produced nothing. The Babylonian civilization eventually collapsed when the productive elements of society were reduced to little more than slaves.
Visionary economist Richard Kotlatz recognized that the same pattern of exploitation, that is, “borrowing money into circulation, then withholding more money to make debt service impossible,” reverberated throughout the ancient societies of Persia, Greece, and Rome with the same effect. The practice later found resurgence in the era of colonialism and empire. It can be seen today in the policies of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other financial institutions. Their economic hit men of the globalization era hit on underdeveloped nations, promising freedom through credit for development but delivering slavery through debt. The consequence of such exploitive economies is that they always end up killing the proverbial golden goose from which the tangible value originated.
We see the same sad scenario being played out today as executives with golden parachutes bail out of once-productive, but now indebted companies, closing factories and leaving workers unemployed. Even though real wealth- the productive potential of available resources and willing workers- is in place, the means of exchange, the currency, has been extracted from the system. There isn’t enough money available to purchase goods or pay workers for their services.
No wonder visionaries like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison fought against the establishment of a national bank in the United States. They understood that political freedom was not possible under a system of economic exploitation. Without the ability to coin debt free currency based on the value of natural wealth, an entire society would eventually fall into the perpetual in-debt status of those farmers in ancient Babylon.
Jefferson was quite prophetic when he wrote: “If the American people ever allow the banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property, until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power of money should be taken from banks and restored to Congress and the people to whom it belongs. I sincerely believe that banking institutions having the issuing power of money, are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies.”
As the current economic crisis reveals, the amount of money in circulation doesn’t necessarily represent the wealth of a society. For example, consider that America’s farm production during the Depression in 1933, was roughly the same as it was in 1929 before the stock market crash. And yet, the monetary value of total farm income was half of what it had been four years earlier! As economist Carl H. Wilkens points out, the harvest of 1933 had the same number of calories as the harvest four years earlier. If our currency were truly a store of value, the value of farm production would not have been reduced by half.
The variable nature of our money’s value has profoundly undermined our natural economy and given rise to a totally unnatural one. David Korten, author of Agenda for a New Economy, bluntly described our current financial system as a “money game in which the players use money to make money for people who have money, without producing anything of value.”
Citing Kevin Phillip’s book, Bad Money, Korten compares the economy of America at its peak of global power in 1950 with the economy of today. In 1950, manufacturing accounted for 29.3 percent of the United States gross domestic product(GDP). By 2005, manufacturing was down to a mere 12 percent, while so-called financial services, meaning money invested into money markets, accounted for more than 20 percent of the GDP.
Hedge funds, an example of a financial service that was barely a shrub on the economic landscape 20 years ago, have now grown to over $1.8 trillion in assets. These risky ventures, which use borrowed money to borrow more money, totaled some $14 trillion in 2006.
The new word for borrowing is leveraging and the now defunct Lehman Brothers was leveraged 35 to one, meaning that it had borrowed $35 on every dollar of its equity. Lehman’s bankruptcy has left its unsecured creditors with over $200 billion in losses.
In the world of money marketing, Wall Street’s short-term gain end up as Mains Street’s long term loss. Korten reported that over a period of roughly three decades, “the benefits of productivity gains in the Main Street economy were captured by Wall Street players as interest, dividends, and financial service fees.”
In an attempt to make ends meet in an economy where the real value of the dollar was plummeting, the American consumer began to borrow money to pay for their consumable goods. Why, you can even use your credit card to purchase fast food, adding debt while you add calories. Financial institutions were all too willing to extend credit, and by 2007,personal household mortgage and credit card debt stood at $14.8 trillion, which is roughly the equivalent of that yeat’s GDP! Time for another round of foreclosures!”
Sunday, October 10, 2010
ILLUSTRATED THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
Here is another Chinese proverb paired with a star I made using flowers of the jumping cholla and prikly pear cacti. Have a good week.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
ILLUSTRATED THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
I give you another Chinese Proverb this week. I paired it with a star made from nightblooming cactus flowers.
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