THINKING ABOUT MONEY

COINS are produced from a metal, or minted at the Royal Mint for the Government of the day.
NOTES are printed for the Bank of England, or for various banks in Scotland, or at times for the Government's Treasury. Like coins they are put into circulation by banks, post offices ( as pensions etc.) and elsewhere.
CHEQUES (and CREDIT TRANSACTIONS by telephone and computer), possible when issued or supported by a Îtrustworthy personâ or body such as a bank or government or Building Society.
CREDIT UNIONS can be set up in places where the people need help in getting safe loans, e.g. in places of unemployment.
LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems) offer exchange points or vouchers so that people can turn their skills into "local money" with names such as "Favours" or "Thames".
TIMEBANKS are also now appearing in a variety of forms

2. WHY HAVE MONEY ?

People used to trade by barter or by swapping things, but they found it easier to use cowry shells as tokens of value for so much work or the product thereof! Coins took over, then note too; but the trouble is that they don't now ensure fairness, except within good families and communities. Some people want and get too much, and too many people try to.

Questions for discussion
1. Is money a nuisance, and would the world's people do better to get rid of it and just give their skills when asked?
2. Why are so many rich people and nations never satisfied; and what is stopping the United Nations from setting up a world-wide trading system that prevents the developed countries from sucking the wealth out of the poor ones ?
3 What has the Bible to say about fair trading? (An answer to this question is suggested below).
We live in the present system yet we need to get it improved.

3. WHAT NEEDS DOING ?

AS CHRISTIANS we believe that the Bible reflects wisdom which its explorers sought and tested and found effective. The Bible has much advice to offer about how money and land should be used. Look up Exodus 22 verse 25; Nehemiah 5. 7-12; Psalm 50 verse 6: Ezekiel 18 verse 8 etc.; and Luke 6 verse 35 for the words of Jesus, "Lend without expecting any return". There are more than twenty parables that reflect the wise use of money ina just society.

GREED is a deep distortion in our human character; the last of the Ten Commandments states "Thou shalt not covet", so we should curb our constant desire for more things. By the Middle Ages the church was teaching that only a fair price may be charged in trade. Money is a token for good or productive capacities or services, and in 1515 Pope Leo X condemned those who seek to get more money without "labour, cost or risk". Sadly, by the 16th century people were less ready to seek the wisdom of what was seen as God's will for their commercial activities, and individual go-getting became accepted .[See Hutton on effect felt in November 16th 2003 - presently in Peter's Articles4: "Death of community"]. On the first of November 1745 however, the Pope Benedict XIV issued a letter with the Latin title "Vix Perventi" affirming Leo's ban on usury. Alas, money business has deteriorated steadily since then. [See "Peter's Articles5 "Billions to banks; debt to the poor"]

4. PROBLEMS TO TACKLE NOW.

1. Interest (meaning DEBT of course) has become accepted by a commercial world that has lost the sight of God. A person buying a house or a mortgage may pay in interest two or three times the purchase price.
2. Banks lend more than has been deposited with them, so they create money out of nothing! Because of this "private monopoly of big money creation", which the Government allows when it could issue debt free money itself,, Britain pays £20 billion yearly on National Debt interest. This "public expenditure" is ignored by nearly all politicians, but it feeds fat cats!
3. The global (or world-wide) money market has failed because it leaves most of the world's people destitute. The antics of brokers and speculators seen on TV are no way to run the world.
4. The current international money system needs to be amended to ensure that it works for people and is not used as a tool of control and domination by the few.
5. How Banks create money is hidden in obscurity. Why is the way banks create money, described below, continually denied, side-stepped or hidden under a maze of verbiage ?

(a) Banks create credit which when drawn upon and used becomes money.
(b) Banks are limited by regulatory authorities to the extent to which they can continue to create credit.
(c) The measures of control have altered over the years from an LGS Ratio (Deposits to Loans) to Statutory Reserve Deposit requirements to the Prime Asset Ratio.
(d) None of the above negates the argument that banks do create the major portion of the nation's money supply.
(e) Banks do not /give /money they /lend /it; and compound interest is added.
(f) How banks can increase their lending and maintain their liquidity requirements can be the result of a number of factors. Government deficit spending, the Central Bank's action of buying and selling government securities, a favourable balance of trade, Capital (money) inflow for investments or speculation, or simply by a bank borrowing off shore.
(g) The fact remains that banks do create the major portion of the nation's money supply. In the US, UK and Australia this is currently (it does vary slightly) about 97%.

THE DECEPTION WE WISH TO EXPOSE

Since the beginning of the Twentieth Century the trading banks as a whole have recognised that their collective security, such as it is, depends upon them collectively presenting a face to the world that appears solid and united. The public must believe that banking is sound and safe. And operates within rigid probity.The success of the banking system depends upon the rest of the population being blind to the reality. Most teaching can be relied upon to propagate and maintain the deception. All this to shroud a fraudulent trade, constantly on the brink of meltdown. It is totally unstable, with society as its perpetual victims.