We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

On Money

Click here to access article by Carol Brouillet from Community Currency.

This article, while offering considerable valuable information, is weak on analysis. Although I have not thoroughly studied it, what I have read from the article directly and indirectly through the sources it links to, I have concluded that its focus is on central banks as the focus of all evil apart from the system of capitalism. Thus, you will find that its material would be supported by old-fashioned conservatives and US libertarians because of its narrow focus. The author and her linked sources appear to have no problem with other small, privately owned banks issuing their own money in the form of bank notes as has occurred in much of US history, or as we continue to see today in the form of loans through the practice of fractional reserve banking.

Money is a very complicated subject and its history has been obviously and deliberately obscured by the ruling class whose core is made up of major bankers. Money when issued by private banks is usually the most lucrative capitalist operation of all. 

Bankers, or people acting as bankers, discovered this long ago. Central banks are major banks functioning as a consortium of banks that are granted a monopoly by a government to issue its money and is backed by the full enforcement powers of the government. Major bankers are able to achieve this feat and get away with it because they are the core part of any capitalist ruling class. They play a key role in what gets produced in any society, and of course, what gets produced is always the most profitable regardless of consequences to society. War is the most extreme example.

For more information to help you to understand money creation, I recommend this source which is organized as a series of lessons designed by someone by the pseudonym of "Smithy". Smithy has degrees in mathematics and economics, and she works as a consultant calculating investment risk for financial institutions. For this reason, she can't reveal her real name. I also recommend a book entitled The Lost Science of Money by Stephen Zarlenga, but it is rather expensive. You could also check out my past articles using the label "money" in the "Categories" section for more information.