“Neither a Borrower Nor a Lender Be”

Words to live by. So why does no one live by them?

There is a gentlemen’s agreement among economists and politicians not to speak of a certain subject — at least not if they value their careers. That subject is debt-free currency – the alternative to privatized, central bank currencies which are really coupons of debt.

my.firedoglake.com...

In other words, our politicians value their careers more than they value their responsibility to the nation and the people. So they pretend not to know that:

There are essentially three different types of currency; three systems with very distinct characteristics and economic effects.
1. Commodity currency (usually gold, or gold certificates)
2. Debt-based currency (coupons issued by a central bank such as the Federal Reserve and loaned into circulation)
3. Debt-free currency (money issued by a sovereign state and spent, not loaned, into circulation)

Gold has always been the preferred currency of elitists; its scarcity makes gold currency a natural instrument for financial oppression. The gold standard, for example, enabled the Great Depression to be inflicted on the masses — giving rise to the Third Reich and very nearly global fascism. But gold, as a commodity, has little utility beyond adornment — so its much vaunted “intrinsic value” is dubious at best.

The other two currency types are fiat monies; so-named because money is created by decree rather than by accumulation of gold. A system of fiat money can be bad or good, depending first of all on whether it is debt-based or debt-free.

It is understandable that economists and bankers would prefer an environment in which the machinations of debt currencies, fractional banking and a multitude of debt instruments are financially beneficial to themselves. But why do the people abide politicians who refuse to risk their careers to create an economy that would remove the debt burden, not only from themselves, but from the people? They would be heroes.

A proper currency is neither chained by gold nor privatized by the banking elite. Money is rightfully issued by each sovereign state as a public asset, used to pay the operating expenses of the state. This imbues fiat money with intrinsic value: the value of those goods and services for which it was initially exchanged. Thus fiat currency could be debt-free and possess a more solid intrinsic value than that of some glittery metal.

Now the question arises: How does one control inflation under a debt-free system? And the answer is that controlling inflation is the proper role of taxes. With debt-free currency, since the state can issue whatever money it needs, taxation is only necessary as a means to soak up any excess money supply. When inflation is low, tax rates would automatically go down. If inflation should spike, tax rates must immediately rise according to a pre-established scientific formula. But so long as the money being created is not wasted, its intrinsic value poses an effective barrier to inflation.

Petitions to secede from the US are ridiculous because it leaves the banking cartel firmly in the driver's seat. But governments do have the constitutional authority to secede from the banking establishment.

Legally, debt is to be considered odious if the government used the money for personal purposes or to oppress the people. Moreover, in cases where borrowed money was used in ways contrary to the people’s interest, with the knowledge of the creditors, the creditors may be said to have committed a hostile act against the people. Creditors cannot legitimately expect repayment of such debts.

www.jubileeusa.org...

So rather than zapping off politically motivated petitions to secede from the nation, maybe a more logical approach would be to petition government for the elimination of the odious debt that holds both politicians and citizens hostage to the banking elite and to create a debt free economy.

Wall Street investors might not like that much but, oh well, sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug.

Most people are simple in their thinking. Things like finance, taxes, etc., are just too hard to understand (and, of course, the people in charge use such crazy archaic langauge that it takes somebody schooled in it to understand it).

The time for people to have fought this insanity was in 1913, when the federal reserve was established under Woodrow Wilson (thanks alot, buddy). However, it was passed in the dead of night on December 23, when people were preparing for the holidays and most senators and congressmen were out of town. At the same time, the income tax laws were brought into existence.

People woke up after their holidays to find that they were enslaved under the pretext of never having financial disasters again. LOL, then came the great depression.

We have had quite a few generations now that are used to being indentured servants.

I do like the idea of petitioning to get rid of the entire kit and kaboodle. Start from scratch, no debt in exchange for money. However, I see the leeches so firmly entrenched in our system, only a complete do-over, including firing of everybody in D.C., will accomplish this task.

All the petitions are doing is giving the government an idea of how pissed off and disenfranchised we are. And they don't care.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


Sadly, I have to agree with your conclusion, FS, its gone too far and the corruption is too deep. Sure people will complain but that's the extent of it, the disease is in our bone marrow. But it goes back much further than 1913, that was the coup de gras.

Still, the system as it stands today will not stand much longer and then an ever larger fraud will be perpetrated upon the people because they've not bothered to learn how the "old fraud" came to be or how to stop the money masters from digging a deeper hole to bury us in. Its easier to complain.