The Number 1 Reason YOU became a Slave

Brent Jessop || December 14, 2005

"Once a nation parts with the control of its currency and credit... all talk of the sovereignty of Parliament
and of democracy is idle and futile" - Mackenzie King, 1935

The number 1 reason we became slaves is our complete ignorance to what money is and
how it is created. The monetary systems of all the
G-8 countries - including Canada - are specifically
designed to force the average person and the
country into debt.

You may think that because you have no personal

debt that you are debt free. This is not true. As our
national debt grows the value of our dollar shrinks.
Combined with inflation you are loosing a lot of
money.

In 2004-2005 the government paid 17.3% of all

taxes collected toward ONLY THE INTEREST on
the public debt. When I say the "government paid" I
really mean the people of Canada since the government has no money of its own. So
every dollar that you pay in taxes 17 cents of that goes directly to the private banks!
This is actually a small percentage due to the low interest rates. In 1990-1991 this value
peaked at 39 cents for every dollar!

What do you think we could spend this money on if it wasn't going to the private banking
system? Health care? Education? Tax cuts?

The following is a quick, simple to understand tutorial on the basics of how money is
created in Canada. It explains how simple it is for us to remove ourselves from the debt
cycle by printing our own money to be paid back at virtually no interest instead of
borrowing the money from the private banking system at much higher interest rates
(currently at 3.25%). We are printing about 5% of the money through the Bank of Canada
and the other 95% comes from private banks.

from The Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform

Since the numbers in the tutorial are a few years old here is a small update to the figures.
You may have heard that our government has run a budget surplus for the past 8 years
(1997-2005) and to their credit have reduced our Net Debt from $607.9 to 554.7 billion
(Table 9). These numbers can be deceiving.

This debt reduction of $53.2 billion since 1997 had some help. In 1999 the government
passed the Budget Implementation Act which allowed them to steal over $30 billion
directly from public service pension surpluses. So, of this $53.2 billion reduction in the
public debt, over $30 billion was "borrowed" from pensions that still need to be paid out!
I am no accountant but this is just another form of debt. What will
happen if the pension funds are running low on money?

One more small example from this past budget of 2004-2005.

Canada's debt dropped slightly by $1.6 billion ($556.3 - 554.7). But
in September of 2004 our government sold off the remaining 50
million shares of Petro-Canada for $2.6 billion (Footnote under
Table 3). Not exactly the sustainable budget surplus it is hyped up
to be.

Note: The government decided to sell the shares of Petro-Canada which it owned since
1975, shortly after the stock had dropped by more than 12%. Good time to sell?

Why are you a Slave?

Imagine for a second that you are in charge of the private banks that print our money (and
all G-8 country's money) out of nothing and get billions of dollars back in the form of
interest. What would you do with essentially an endless supply of money - more then you
could possibly spend in a lifetime? It becomes a question of not what you can buy but
who you can control - power becomes the driving force. Below is a 45 min video
describing how this "capitalist banker conspiracy" functions. It may sound a little crazy
but think about how well 9-11 fits into the "pressure from above, pressure from below"
framework. This video was made well before 9-11.

G. Edward Griffin's - Capitalist Conspiracy

There is also a much newer movie by Daniel Hopsicker about the banking elite and the
corrupt history of the Federal Reserve located on this website entitled The Masters of The
Universe.

Should we use the Gold

Standard?
The video above suggests that we should use the
gold standard instead of leaving our government
with the ability to manipulate our monetary system.
When you consider how corrupted our government is (or could become in the future) this
is the obvious solution.

But what happens if someone becomes powerful enough to manipulate the price of gold?

I am not going to pretend to have all the answers to removing the control the bankers
have over us. But the longer we wait the more power and more control they are going to
accumulate. The first step is to spread the word about this evil that has enslaved us. We
have to remember that there are very few of them and millions of us. Their control is only
superficial when people become educated.

Money for the People, and by the People

Canadian Democratic Movement || October 31, 2005

[KDR: This is a bit of a long article but a very important subject.]

So, What Is Money?

Just as we need government for the people, and by the people, so we need money for the
people, and by the people.

Money Reformers advocate essentially two things - firstly, that we change from a debt-
based to a debt-free economy. That is, to a society where money, or a great deal of it, is
supplied into the economy debt-free, meaning it does not require to be paid back. And
secondly, Money Reformers advocate that the creation of money should be a public
service, under public control for the public good.

Money is simply the medium we use to exchange goods and services. Without it, buying
and selling would be impossible except, of course, by direct barter exchange.

Notes and coins are virtually worthless in their own right. They take on value only
because people accept them, in exchange for goods and services. All the money in the
world is useless in the middle of a barren desert.
 Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

To keep trade and economic activity functioning, there has to be enough of this medium
of exchange called money in existence to allow economic activity to take place.

Hence the importance of ensuring that there is sufficient money in the economy to
facilitate the exchange of goods and services, and hence the crucial importance that the
creators of this money are under the direct control of the very people who need it to
survive. That's you and me.

WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM?

Someone has to be responsible for making sure that there is enough money in existence.
It's not you. It's not me. So who is it?

Each nation has a Central Bank to do this - in Canada, it's the Bank of Canada.

Central Banks act as banker for the commercial banks, and the government - just as
individuals and businesses keep accounts at commercial banks, so commercial banks and
government keep accounts at the Central Bank - in our case, the Bank of Canada.

If the government wants to spend money on some public project such as a school or
hospital then it will collect the money from taxes, but every year the government fails to
collect enough money in taxes to pay for all its spending requirements. There is always a
shortfall. So what does it do? Where does it go for money?

The government "borrows" the money this way: It prints and sells "gilt edged securities".
These are simply pieces of paper which promise an additional return to the buyer, in the
future. The securities are auctioned several times a year to meet the shortage of
government revenue as it arises. They are bought by individuals, insurance companies,
pension funds, trust funds, and banks.

The government takes the money it has raised by these sales, and spends it on its public
projects. The sum owed by the government is called "the National Debt". These securities
are becoming due regularly. That is, the government has to pay back the amount, with
interest.

When the non-banking sector (individuals, insurance, pension and trust funds) buy
securities, then saved money is being recycled back into the economy through
government spending.

However, when banks buy government securities, then entirely new money - which has
been created out of nothing by the banks specifically for these purchases - is spent into
the economy by the government. The government has to find the money to repay them in
full, with interest, which it does by selling even more securities and raising taxes even
further! Now that's just government debt that we're saddled with, and have to pay back in
our taxes.

ALMOST ALL MONEY ENTERS SOCIETY AS A DEBT

Money enters in other ways. There is also the money which enters society via our private
debts as individuals, which we owe to commercial private banks.

It is a myth that these banks lend money they already have. When was the last time you
went to your bank and found there was money missing from your account because it had
been lent to someone else! Like the ancient money lenders of old, banks can lend out
more than they actually hold!

The fact is that banks create money out of nothing and lend it to you at interest.

There is also commercial company debts owed to commercial banks, and there is
international, or what is called "Third World" debt.

The crucial point to realise is that all of these debts - government, private, commercial
and international - are debts owed to the banking system in one way or another.

Almost the entire stock of money circulating in every country in the world today
represents a debt owed to the banking system. only the note and coin issue is debt-free.

The entire financial system of all nations today is what we call debt-based; meaning that
the process of going into debt is relied upon, almost exclusively, by governments, to
create and supply money to their economies.

The world runs o�n debt. We live in a debt-based society. We cannot get money into
society without almost all of it entering, at source, as a debt.

THE POSITIVE VERSUS THE NEGATIVE ECONOMY

Money Reformers make two distinctions when we look at the economic world around us.
on one hand we recognise and support the positive economy, which is characterised by
mutual trade for mutual benefit, and productive, just, sustainable enterprise.

On the other hand, we have the negative economy, characterised by poverty, cut-throat
competition, oppression, exploitation, war, waste, inflation, and starvation.

When we look around ourselves we are often forced to acknowledge that the economy we
live in is often not a positive economy of mutual trade for mutual benefit, but rather a
dog-eat-dog economy, a cannibal capitalism which has a tendency to eat itself and all
those caught in it.

Money Reformers are alone today in recognising that many of the ills of the world are
due directly to the twin facts that the economy of the world is based on debt - rather than
on debt-free principles - and the power to create the money in the first place, is vested in
the hands of a tiny minority. Recognise that the debt-engine drives the world economy in
many negative directions.

Moreover, while some people highlight "the redistribution of wealth" as a possible

solution, Money Reformers, highlight the fundamental monopoly power of money
creation enjoyed by the few to the detriment of the many.

The fact that many of the economic and social ills which beset society and the world
today are due to the power to create money being concentrated in the hands of a tiny
minority, rather than democratically distributed in the hands of the People.

This democratic imperative can be summed up in the slogans: It's the People's Money and
Money for the People, and by the People.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR DEMOCRACY?

Banks are businesses out to make profits. Since they alone decide to whom they will
lend, they effectively decide what is produced, where it is produced and who produces it,
and all on the basis of profitability to the bank, rather than what is beneficial to the
community.

Our money, instead of being supplied debt-free as a means of exchange, now comes as a
debt owed to bankers providing them with vast profits, power and control, as the rest of
us struggle with an increasing burden of debt.

By supplying money to those of whom they approve and denying it to those of whom
they disapprove, financiers can create boom or bust, and support or undermine
individuals, organisations, economies and governments.

We, the people, don't have the power to create the money. The money we require just to
survive is only available from the banks. To a large extent, we are at the mercy of the
banking system and we are effectively enslaved by them. We cry Freedom from Debt
Slavery!

Until the power to create money is taken out of the hands of the banks, and the hands of
the private interests who do it for profit and control, then we can never say that we live in
a democracy.

The nation's economy is our economy. We create the real wealth through our ingenuity,
enterprise and hard work. The current banking system operates as a massive drain on that
public wealth as well as concentrating power and control in the hands of a tiny, private
minority.

So what do we need to do? Essentially, we need to move towards an economy based upon
debt-free principles where much more money than at present comes into society debt-
free, and we need to move towards democratic control over the money creation process.

PRINCIPLES OF DEBT-FREE FINANCE

Money must be based on the real wealth of society - that is, on people, skills and
materials. If you have the people, skills and materials, then that which is physically
possible and socially desirable can be made financially possible.

If the people have something they want to do in their community, and if they have the
skills and the materials, then they should not be prevented for "lack of money".

The overall purpose of an economic system is simply to provide goods and services - as,
when and where required - in order to satisfy human needs.

Money is simply the means of exchange for the goods and services produced by the
people and their skills and resources. It is not a commodity in itself.

In this regard, money should be our servant - not our master. And since money, at source,
is created out of nothing, there is no need for it to be scarce.

SO HERE'S THE LEAST WE SHOULD BE DEMANDING

For a start, we can see that we're paying our taxes to enrich a banking system which
never had the money in the first place!

We can see that the government is raising money it doesn't have, by borrowing from
banks which don't have the money either, but only the legal authority to create out of
nothing.

The government then expects us, through our taxes, to pay back the banks with the real
money that we've worked for! The obvious question arises: Why doesn't the government
just create the money itself?

Instead of borrowing the money from the banking system, and forcing us to pay it back in
our taxes, the government could simply create the money itself, spend it into society and
not need to ask for it back.

And, yes, the government - or a state appointed authority - could do exactly that. Instead
it enslaves us all to the banking system and that's a scandal!