Page 11 - Michael Journal 2019 August
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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


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