Page 10 - Michael Journal 2019 August

The biggest thief of all is still at large! a system can only lead to the entire world being or expand. When the financial system decides to
plunged into crippling debt until the end of time.
withhold credit, the result is paralysis.
Unless, that is, a decision is made to end this global The gall! The system commits extortion by say-
by Louis Even swindle. ing: “Either you sign this document committing
There are as many different sorts of thieves as Extortion yourself to bring me such and such an amount peri-
there are types of thievery, and the following is not But the robbery doesn't end there: the swindle odically, or else I will tie your hands by refusing you
an exhaustive summary. There are bandits, bur- is compounded by extortion. money, without which you can do nothing!”
glars, pirates, cattle thieves, hijackers, shoplifters, Extortion is the offence of obtaining, by threat Branches of government and society are treat-
pickpockets, muggers and purse snatchers. There or force, money or valuables not due. Gangs of or- ed in exactly the same fashion. We are asked: “Do
is embezzlement, blackmail, fraud, swindles and ex- ganized criminals have been known to obtain from you want a new aqueduct? Fine! The labour and the
tortion. businessmen periodic payments of money, under materials are ready and available. However, before
There is one particular thief whom we have been threat of wreaking damage upon their businesses. starting, you will sign a commitment that after you
denouncing for a long time. He is still at large, and This is a story familiar to us from the world of films have already paid once for the materials and labour,
law enforcement officials are making no attempt to and from crime reports in our daily newspapers. you will pay an additional sum, the equivalent of,
bring him to justice. In fact, it appears he is held in The existing financial system is practicing just and perhaps greater than the amount already paid
high esteem by authorities. This particular thief ex- such a crime even though the government has for the labour and materials. If you don’t agree, then
cels in the art of swindling and extortion. those in its jurisdiction. What does the banker offer? made such extortion legal. Production today cannot you will simply have to do without your aqueduct.
Our regular readers have probably guessed who Well, he wants us to believe that he is lending the be launched unless money is available before any Why? Because, even if there is an abundance of re-
he is. It is that old thief whose agents operate boldly bank's money. In fact, all he has is figures issuing products have been sold. Expansion of the product- sources begging to be used, you will not take the
among us in the light of day: the existing financial forth from his pen and a drop of ink. The value of ive system requires an expansion of credit by the first step toward completing the project without
system. The fact that the thief’s modus operandi these figures is not based on the banker's pen and financial system. The financial system imposes its money. I alone can grant you money!”
is developed to a high degree and is considered a ink, but on the work and products which come from conditions, and if you do not agree to these condi- The financial system holds people in its clutch-
sacred mystery by the average person, and even the borrower himself! tions, you simply do not get the money to produce es, not unlike other criminal extortionists who hold u
sanctioned by judicial authorities, permits it to carry The one borrowing brings the fruit of his labour
out its dastardly deeds on an unheard of scale and — real concrete wealth; goods which can be used
without its victims ever realizing who it is that is de- by all. The lender brings nothing more than a few The impact of compound interest
priving them of the overflowing bounty which na- figures scribbled in a ledger. What happens? The
ture and man's ingenuity has to offer. Oh, they know one who has no real wealth to offer sees to it that he There are many examples of the voracious rodent that is the current financial system. The two
very well that they are being robbed right and left, is reimbursed, not only with the amount of money that follow describe the egregious impact of compound interest on national development, and are
but this crafty old thief is skilled in turning his vic- represented by his figures in a ledger, but with taken from the book, Economic Democracy: Economics Viewed in the Light of the Social Doctrine of
tims against one another, making each believe that another amount, over and above the new money the Church.
the other is responsible for his losses. issued. We are referring to interest charges. The be- During the 10
A swindle leaguered borrower has to find the interest from the year span from 1980 For every $1 granted as aid to
Those who are fairly well informed know that money that is already in circulation, thus making it to 1990, Latin Amer- poor countries $8 is paid back.
over nine-tenths of the money that is put into circu- impossible for someone else to meet their financial ican countries paid
lation is born in the banker's ledger, taking its form obligations. Remember, the lender did not put into $418 billion in inter-
est on original loans
and substance from the banker's pen and a few circulation the money necessary to cover the inter-
drops of ink. The other one-tenth of the supply of est charges. that totalled $80 bil-
money, which makes up paper bills and coins, only So it happens that the people, as a whole, are lion. The principal
comes into existence through the fiat of the banks. put into debt for the wealth which they, as a whole, amount was still
No one can deny that this money, once brought have produced. This is the heart of the swindle. To outstanding even
into existence, is considered by the banks as their pay for goods one has produced, and an additional though the original
property which they can lend out at a profit to bene- amount beyond their value, is unthinkable. If you amount borrowed
was paid more than
fit themselves alone. How many people have ever build a table for yourself worth $25, it would be
stopped to consider the scope and extent of this absolutely ridiculous that you would be required five times over!
vast scam? For there is no doubt that the contract to pay some department of the government or According to
entered into between the lender of this new money some private individual $30 for having built your- the Jubilee 2000
and the individual or corporation who borrows it is self a table! Yet such a ludicrous thing is happen- Coalition, for every
anything less than a barefaced swindle. ing where the people of the country, as a whole, $1 loaned as aid
The man who wishes to borrow money to build are considered in relation to the elite who make to poor countries,
a factory has to give the banker collateral or secur- modern money. $8 are returned to
ity for his loan. The collateral is real wealth; his Those who have obtained the monopoly on the lending institutions
when compound in-
own goods. A municipality borrowing money has manufacture of money obligate those who have no
to give, as security, its legal authority to tax the cit- right to create even one cent of new money beyond terest is factored in.
izens and its power to mortgage the properties of what the monopolists put into circulation. Such

10 MICHAEL August/September 2019 www.michaeljournal.org www.michaeljournal.org MICHAEL August/September 2019 11