there's no such thing as a dollar

[mellowtigger]

It was 1983 when the government arrived to take over a failed bank in my hometown. Mr. Franks, my high school economics teacher at the time, took the opportunity to demonstrate to us just how our money system really works. It was a powerful lesson. I understood it, and yet I abhored it. It was a system that, by definition, must fail. It's a mathematical necessity.

I couldn't believe that it really was how our nation had chosen to conduct its business. Ever since, I've had philosophical issues with interest-bearing accounts or other "free money" schemes. They're all immoral, in my opinion. Using them hastens the inevitable end of the system. The dollar is just another pyramid scheme, which is supposed to be illegal because of the way that such organization tempts people with its awful wrongness.

I believe that money should represent a unit of human labor.  Not just a mythical person's labor, but my own.  I've tried to avoid systems that give me money not the product of my own direct effort.  Yes, even though it means that other people with their 401k and various other involvements are "earning" more than me.  I tried to not participate.  On purpose.  I wanted to understand in the immediate sense why I deserved what I received.

Aside: Mr. Franks is apparently still an excellent teacher. Searching online this morning, I find that he has won awards from both a corporation and an agency for his skill and success.

Someone has created a series of video lessons to explain the same economic problem that I learned back in 1983. It explains not only that particular problem but also quite a few more that are all tied together: dollars, interest, fuel, housing, population. It explains the inherent danger of exponential growth. The last chapter, Section 20: What Should I Do?, has not been completed yet, but the other chapters already total more than 3 hours of footage.  It's a "crash course" in economics.  It also lays out the logic of the inevitable and necessary economic "crash" that may have been initiated this month by the housing bubble burst.

http://www.chrismartenson.com/crash-course

Considering the meltdown facing the U.S. and the world right now, this video series is the most important lesson that you could be learning right now. Watch it.  Even "W" is preparing for martial law. It all makes sense now.

Comments

[khrysso.livejournal.com]

I think it's really interesting how the Religious Right is still so heavily behind the professional usurers in the Republican Party when there are so many clear biblical injunctions against usury among those within one's community. (I'm pretty sure the Bible didn't mean "political party" when it used the Hebrew word that for so long was translated as "brother.")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury

[mellowtigger]

It's terribly unkind of me, I know, but my fun meter is tweaked. I'm actually enjoying the meltdown.

All these people panicking because they wanted their greedy turn at the trough of free money, and they're not going to get it.

[dodecadragon.livejournal.com]

After the melt down they will be poorer than you.

[khrysso.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, me too—file under "schadenfreude." Hand me the popcorn, will ya? (he said, gleefully...)

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

Yes myself with net-zero worth (more debt than assets, although not serious debt like mortgage) weirdly I stand to gain if it all goes tits up and the bank goes bust.

That is until I starve cos of no bank account to pay my pay into...I bet finding an alternative will take longer than 2-3 weeks. LOL.

It's a truly fucked up system. And I have mixed feelings about the crash - fear (of not getting any more work as a freelancer) but also glee. Especially the moaning of bankers...'we deserve our bonuses!' - well I had to forgo bonuses when my industry crashed in 2001/2 - not as dramatically but it wasn't as interlinked to, well, everything. Websites aren't that important, really. Or weren't then. But at least if one of my websites crashed I didn't take out some poor people's pensions! I feel no empathy at all, since the people I know who work at banks do so for the money.

And they seem to think being clean shaven and suited is a fair price to pay for selling their soul. Well, the devil called and he wanted his souls back!

[dodecadragon.livejournal.com]

"Using them hastens the inevitable end of the system."

All the more reason to use the system, it needs to be brought to an end, sooner than later.

I'll have to watch these chapters, see how it compares to the Zeitgeist (http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/) movies.

I can understand why the last chapter isn't done, it always seems easier to illuminate the problems, than offer up concrete solutions. I think it's mainly because most find the logical solutions hard to stomach, i.e. the use of force against our would be masters (who have no problem using force against us). Which isn't surprising, since they have been doing everything in their power to domesticate us into being dumbed down docile sheeple.

[mellowtigger]

The only way to sustain the system is hyperinflation. And that, as I hope everyone can finally see and not just the "me" from 25 years ago, is not sustainable.

[dodecadragon.livejournal.com]

So far after just listening to the intro the voice over presenter sounds very similar to the guy in the Zeitgeist movies.

First difference I note

[dodecadragon.livejournal.com]

In Chapter 9 at the 6:28 mark he states "It was not planned"

In the Zeitgeist movie, they clearly state that it was planned, by J.P. Morgan and his cronies in the Fed.

So far it seems like Martenson is bending over backwards not to blame anyone for the system, where as the Zeitgeist guy has no problem with placing the blame on the people who designed the system, providing quotes from historical people of those times, including some of the bankers.