Like all of you, I struggle daily to try to make sense of it all. I don't believe in conspiracy theories, and I believe that efforts towards unified field theories are futile. Still, I try to make my way. I believe that the interconnection between banking, business and governments is the root of what ails liberty-loving people.
An Unholy Trinity: Big Banks + Big Business + Big Bureaucracy
When not locked together in an iron triangle, none of the Killer B's is inherently evil, and each is beneficial to mankind and society. However, when joined together, they form an axis of evil.
An Axis of Evil
I’m not much for shadowy conspiracy theories. I believe that people are motivated by rational self interest, and if you understand that you can figure most things out.
“Follow the money” is a more popular way to say it, but that doesn’t always work because money is not always the motivation. Why does billionaire Michael Bloomberg so enjoy the high stress, low paying job of mayor of New York City? Power. He enjoys wielding power and making things happen. There are myriad other motivations. People of an engineering bent just want to see things work right, be it a radio or a roadway. People in dangerous professions obviously receive gratification that fear cannot overcome.
The Killer B's
Bankers make money investing your money and loaning it out. No problem—it’s a millennia old institution. But marry it up with a government that can conjure money out of thin air, and a congeries of monetary horrors are spawned: Fractional banking in which banks loan money they don't have, worthless pieces of paper known as fiat currencies, banks trafficking in valueless money, spinning ponzi schemes and creating bubbles and crashes.
Big Business makes money catering to the consumer’s every whim, until government gets involved. Then the game turns sinister. Instead of competing for the consumers’ money, they turn to romancing lawmakers to seek special favors for themselves. The free market is a jungle, better to trade a little liberty for some safety, and the consumer can go to blazes.
Big Bureaucracy also serves a useful purpose. We need public administrators to run our governments, but the problem comes in when they end up running our lives as well. Big Bureaucracy wants to regulate Big Banks and Big Business, but it doesn't know squat about them, so it must invite in Big Bankers and Big Businessmen to create regulatory snarls and police these operations. The fox in the hen house.
Another group not to be forgotten is The People. The Bureaucrats, Bankers and Businessmen use us as propaganda tools while simultaneously propagandizing us.
To Restore Liberty, We Must Shatter the Iron Triangle
I know, fat chance...
If you want to understand banking and money and how badly governments have screwed them up, I highly recommend Murray Rothbard's "What Has Government Done to Our Money?" He is a brilliant professor with a PhD in economics, but he has a gift of breaking it down for the layman.
You can download the audiobook files for free in mp3 format from The Ludwig von Mises Institute's Media Page. You can then listen to them at your leisure or while traveling to work. You won't regret the time spent.
Rothbard – What Has Government Done to Our Money?
36 comments:
Outstanding, Silver! The killer B's is a perfect metaphor. We hear all the time the term "crony capitalism". This is a serious misnomer and has done unjustifiable harm to the honorable concept of capitalism. I've written three times on the subject trying to get people to stop putting the word "crony" together with the word "capitalism". Cronyism is the antithesis of what capitalism is. A better term, IMO, would be "crony statism". Crony statism is like a vampire bat, it sucks the life blood out of a free society.
Sorry, I'm an Adam Smith capitalist. Money is a symbolic proxy for labor, meant to facilitate it's exchange, that's all. And government and bankers and to a certain degree, corporations merely exist to coordinate and facilitate THAT process. There's nothing nefarious about it.
Conservativesonfire:
I agree, but I still use the term because it's easily understood.
Also, although it sullies the term "capitalism," it's not really an incorrect term. Capitalism is a system of private owners and private capital coming together to make a profit, which is what we have. What is missing is the free market.
That's the real misnomer: Free Market, because that is not what we have.
Of course, we could all begin to argue over who owns the "surplus value" that is generated by the efficient organization and division of labour through "money", but then the conversation would devolve into a Marxist moral argument and mr. ducky would get on his high horse and run away with conversation. ;)
I don't think they have nefarious designs, but they do end up screwing stuff up.
Why must government manipulate our money?
They can print more, but it makes us no richer. Rather it makes us poorer by devaluing our savings and our assets.
This is not a marxist screed, I am a free market capitalist, and this unholy trinity has very little to do with free markets.
Personally, I believe that during war times, socialism has proven itself to be the best system to ensure the survival of the nation's workers, but in peacetime, the free markets best serve the interest of the worker... the peacetime "mindless consumerism" the mr. ducky very much objects to because he has never taken the time to read Plat's "Hipparchus" (aka - "The Profiteer") or Xenophon's "Oeconimucus". ;)
Personally, I see more incompetence than conspiracy. Government has no initiative to succeed, which is a good thing!
Why must government manipulate our money
Because people stuff it in their mattresses and take it out of the system.
Are you familiar with the hsitory of Pennsylvania during the colonial period. Periodically, Ben Franklin would print up a batch of "currency" to add to the British "coin of the realm". This greatly expanded the opportunities for people to work and trade. GREATLY expanded.
It allowed the money to "turn over" more rapidly... increasing it's "velocity". That's what the Fed tries to do... but money get's stuffed in the "mattresses" of mortgages and the like (for 30 years). The government took that money out of local banks and bundles it it to larger instruments for tucking away at the international level...
And yes, these schemes can occassionally lead to disaster, as we've recently learned.
...but if people want JOBS and the ability to sell/exchange their labour, we NEED banks and governments to facilitate the process. Corporations, I don't like... but THAT's another story.
Occasionally? They are blowing one bubble after another.
The problem Franklin was addressing was too little physical physical species. We don't suffer from that.
Easy credit makes the market stupid, because there is no competition for capital. Even the stupidest ideas get money (money which isn't really there, btw).
I am not an economist, so I can quickly get out of my depth. Rothbard does an excellent job explaining this.
Think of money flowing through a system of valves, tanks, pools etc. and you'll get the general idea, much as Franklin got his ideas on the theory of electricity.
I think that the Philadelphia "Water Works" was also a "Franklin Corporation". ;)
And the connection between government money printers and banks is what causes the problem.
Banking is a perfectly legitimate activity. Capital markets make economies and transactions much more efficient. Government does not need to be involved. Indeed, government involvement distorts the markets and corrupts this noble process.
Paper money largely REPLACED physical species, much as electrons sitting on computer hard drives have replaced paper money, today.
Today money "flows" at the speed of light.
They don't "print" money. The Fed adds "zeroes and ones" (electrons/nulls) onto computer hard drives.
But they all are only a "proxy" for labour.
Banks are merely pools where money "rests" temporarily.
Can you tell I'm not an economist either? I'm a marine engineer by training.
The government's money pipes are too leaky for my taste. ;)
It's not all really that conspiratorial or far fetched, Silver. You know that I don't buy into conspiracy theories, but I think you're right on this one.
Logically, this is little different than monopolies and trusts. We know that such things occurred before T. Roosevelt, so it's not like it's outside the realm of possibility here.
For most people, once they get a taste of the dark side--money, power, prestige, fame, whatever--all they want is more of it. Ultimately, most people in that position are going to go for it regardless of who they hurt or destroy, so long as the source doesn't dry up.
It takes a person of true grit and virtue to walk away from those things and to not be consumed by them.
Silver, that is exactly my point. We don't have free markets because of crony statism and not because of crony capitalism.
"We don't have free markets because of crony statism and not because of crony capitalism."
exactly.
SF, apparently, most of your readers don't believe in conspiracy theories, etc......but what's your take on the Bilderberg Group, for example....
And, do you believe Soros bears any responsibility for the many far left groups he's spawned and subsidizes today?
I've tried for years to merely put up with conspiracy theory types and rather smirk from the outside as they opined, but lately I see too many dots being joined to ignore some theories.
Excellent, Silverfiddle-- I think you hit the nail on the head.
I DO believe there is a conspiracy to create a one world government, and that the plan has been in the works for about 100 years. Too much evidence of that to ignore.
Big business and Big government are in cahoots, and it's about time we realized that.
"Personally, I see more incompetence than conspiracy....."
I see it the same way DT, which is why i don't buy into vast conspiracies much, half the time these morons cannot figure out their ass from their elbow, let alone keep taking-over-the-world secrets. The the EU project for example, they're on the cusp of dumping it into the toilet, either they do it voluntarily or they continue with it into irrelevance. Sort of like rushing into the desert and decreeing oneself the ruler of the world to the sand and wind.
"Another group not to be forgotten is The People."
Even if the 3 B's were working together to profit and control the people, you'd be surprised at how much power the people have. Think of the people as a donkey, you can heap more and more goods onto its back, you can beat it to make it comply and push and shove it up a hill, but eventually if the donkey were ever to just stop and refuse to move no matter how much you beat the tripe out of it, all the big bad B's can do is leave it and walk away with nothing. They need the people more than we need them, just that many of us don't quite know it.
Karen Howes and I see eye to eye regarding the continuing “plot” to establish One World Government.
Again I bring to your attention:
David Rockefeller on the New World Order
“Some.. believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others… to build a more integrated global political and economic structure – one world, if you will.
If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”
"We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nation will accept the New World Order."
~ David Rockefeller speaking at a UN Business Conference, Sept. 14, 1994
DR on media complicity:
"We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries."
~ David Rockefeller Baden-Baden, Germany 1991
"The technetronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities."
~ Zbigniew Brezinski Former Director of National Security Council, Member of Trilateral Commission and Council on Foreign Relations.
"Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have."
~ Richard Salent, former president, CBS News
There is no “incompetence” in the way this is being brought about. The truth is quite the opposite. We wouldn’t be where we are today were it not for the machinations of these self-appointed Oligarchs who have very successfully USED every available splinter faction and every naturally-occurring crisis to further the goal of eventual World Domination.
The quote by the former president of CBS News, Richard Salent is the most telling of all.
TV has been the Dream-Come-True for Master Manipulators and Would-Be-Tyrants.
Everything you've outlined, SilverFiddle, has been completely INTENTIONAL. It's time to stop being ashamed of entertaining "conspiracy theories" for fear of looking foolish, and realize this particular one is along-established FACT.
If it looks like a duck ...
The only question left is "What could we do about it?"
~ FreeThinke
Believe it or not little old Bd actually said something interesting over at Z's place:
"... Don't you get it? The uber rich who control the GOP and the media WANT to destroy the middle class. Wake up!"
Well, yes as a matter of fact, but Bd is wrong about it being the GOP.
It's BOTH parties, stupid.
THEY'RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER.
It's only "We the People" who are being left out.
Did that Iowa Straw Poll "debate" do much for you last night?
NO?
Didn't think so!
There is a reason why today's political theater leaves us cold.
It's a FARCE, that's why.
~ FreeThinke
"They need the people more than we need them, just that many of us don't quite know it."
That is exactly what Marx and the unionists who followed him counted on -- and look where that led.
I guess, when all is said and done, that maybe Benevolent Despotism might be preferable to Peasantocracy after all.
What say you?
~ FreeThinke
Z: I have no idea about the Bilderburgers.
It's no secret Soros funds all these lefty, one-world organizations. The global elites sit on high and shake their heads as they see us all running around, doing what we please, driven by our own rational self interest, refusing to march to their drum.
It would be so much easier for them if they could snuff individuality, herd us all into crowded city centers, where they could bus us to and from work. If they could homogenize our thinking and our tastes the world would be so much more efficient.
Soros is but the tip of an iceberg, SlverFiddle.
~ FT
Funny we agree on the villains but it ends there.
Galbraith - The New Industrial State
... pretty clear analysis without the conspiracy crap.
Farmer, the labor theory of value is pretty passe although Ayn "Psycho" Rand clearly accepted it.
As for Rothbard, anyone who thought bebop is degenerate is of very questionable intellect.
Here are a few (admittedly redundant) definitions of "conspiracy" taken from various dictionaries not often considered:
Conspiracy
A joining or acting together, as if by sinister design: a conspiracy of wind and tide that devastated coastal areas.
A combining or working together: i.e. a conspiracy of events
A working together or concurrence
Any concurrence in action; combination in bringing about a given result.
A concurrence or general tendency, as of circumstances, to one event, as if by agreement.
A concurrence; a general tendency of two or more causes to one event.
When your Three Big Bad B's make policies and favor actions that bring about certain results, once might say with perfect accuracy that these forces have effectively conspired to produced those results.
This does not mean that representatives of these three key elements all got together in a boardroom or a private dining room on the upper floor of some obscure side street tavern to PLOT all of his with malice or illegal profits aforethought -- the usual definition of "conspiracy" -- but whether deliberate or merely coincidental the RESULT is the same.
Unfortunately or not, we live in a world where RESULTS ARE ALL THAT COUNT.
I have on file dozens of quotations from highly placed individuals proudly ADMITTING that an actual conspiracy to produce One World Government has been in the works for a very long time. I have shared many of them here in the past and several again today, yet most here persist in denying this has any credibility.
I can only repeat:
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.
Also:
The devil's greatest accomplishment so far has been to convince a majority of sinners -- and most of the "intelligentsia" -- that he does not exist."
The question should not be whether a "conspiracy" exists, but what we should be DOING about it.
~ FreeThinke
the labor theory of value is pretty passe
Adam Smith is passe? Who knew? Somebody better call Tim Geithner and let him know...
Btw - Has Keynes been proven to be "passe" yet, duckmeister? Evidently having "modern" economic ideas hasn't been working out very well... despite Paul Krugman's insane insistence the the way to greater economic prosperity is to give ditch diggers smaller shovels so that companies will employ more workers, and printing more unemployment checks will help kick start consumer demand...
Thersites:
Stay tuned! You'll love this upcoming week at Western Hero.
I will be addressing the issues you raise.
I find it ironic that if one does not believe in Gay Marriage the left labels them homophobe or bigots and if a person doesn't believe in abortion the left labels them anti-woman or if they are religious the left labels them zealots or if they disagree with Obama's Policies they are labeled Racists.
Isn't it amazing that the left is the one with all the labels and the right are considered the wing nuts?
As far as the Burt and Ernie Gay Marriage BS that is just so typical of NPR. Just more of the "know what's best" government feeling the need to be the "educators" of "our" children.
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