there's no such thing as a dollar
2008-Oct-10, Friday 08:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellowtiggerIt 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.
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.
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.
no subject
Date: 2008-Oct-10, Friday 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-Oct-10, Friday 03:10 pm (UTC)First difference I note
Date: 2008-Oct-10, Friday 04:22 pm (UTC)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.