In this issue:
- Private Currency Vouchers, an Answer to the Money Problem
- History and current events
- Other Historical Documentaries
- Taming the corporate beast
- It is 90 seconds to midnight
- Pasta with broccoli
Private Currency Vouchers, an Answer to the Money Problem
I’ve long been arguing that the present dominant system of money and banking is anti-democratic and the primary mechanism by which power and wealth are continually concentrated in fewer hands. My latest article published 16 Jan 2023, on my website beyondmoney.net and on Medium.com, describes how private currency vouchers issued by trustworthy providers of real goods and services can provide sound means of payment that are superior to government and central bank fiat monies, and a necessary step in turning the tide away from powerful elites and toward the empowerment of people and communities.
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History and current events
What do you know about history, about empires, about ancient rivalries among nations and war? Having that background is essential to understanding what is happening in the world today. Here are some interesting and enlightening documentaries.
The Battle of Russia (1943)
This World War II documentary produced by the US War Department (now called the Department of Defense) is about Russia, its territory, its people, its vast resources and its long history of resistance against invasions from the west. It tells the story of the fight between our then ally, the Soviet Union and Germany in the Second World War up to 1943. It is part of a series titled, Why We Fight, which was produced by the US government to boost public morale and solidify support for the war. You can watch it on Prime TV, or view it for free on Internet Archive, or YouTube, or Tubi as part of its History Rediscovered collection.
The Battle of China (1943)
Another film in the Why We Fight series, this one about China, tells the story of China’s territory, its people, its vast resources, and its history. Interestingly the narrator makes the point that China during its 4000 year history “has never waged a war of conquest against another nation.” Can that still be said of today’s China? I leave it to the readers to try to decide that for themselves. Most people today don’t even know that China was involved in World War II or that her people suffered greatly at the hands of Imperial Japan which began their invasions and attempted conquest in 1937. The ill equipped and fragmented nation was alone for many years in resisting the Japanese forces until the western allies entered the war. This one can also be watched on Prime TV, or view it for free on YouTube, or Tubi.
The first part of this video describes the longstanding rivalries among European nations and empires, and the changing nature of warfare that developed toward the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century that led to the horrendous carnage of the First World War.
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Other Historical Documentaries
Spooks, hoods and the hidden elite
Chauncey Holt tells the amazing story of his long involvement with the CIA as well as with various organized crime figures, and how those two groups often cooperated in assassinations and the overthrow of governments. The major portion of the movie is about the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the peripheral role that Holt played in it, including his presence on the scene in Dallas on November 22, 1963 when the President was shot. He names names and describes their connections. You won’t find much about this movie online and I’m amazed that it hasn’t been buried even deeper. I discovered it by accident on Tubi. Search for it there and watch it for free.
A Secret History: The Making of America
This movie provides a deeper than usual perspective on the Founding Fathers and how the United States came to be an independent nation. One can make all sorts of judgments about the founder’s involvement in Free Masonry, but aside from that, the little known facts presented in this movie helped me to round out my understanding of American history and the US role in world affairs.
Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed
I learned in elementary school that the name Benedict Arnold was synonymous with “traitor,” but this movie tells a more complete story about the man, his sacrifice and service to the revolution, his eventual disillusionment, and his decision to switch sides. Narrated by Martin Sheen, the film gave me a much more nuanced understanding of the American Revolution and the main characters in it, and left me wondering, who were, and are, the actual traitors to the revolution?
Based on his book by the same title, this movie tells the true story of my long-time friend and colleague Tim Jenkin (https://www.community-exchange.org/home/) who was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. Tim and an associate were convicted and sentenced to long terms in Pretoria prison for the “crime” of distributing anti-apartheid leaflets. This is the amazing story of how they managed to escape by making keys out of wood to open the dozen doors that led to freedom. Tim is the founder of Community Exchange (CES) a platform that hosts 1257 exchanges and community-based currencies in 107 countries.
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Taming the corporate beast
There’s no denying that corporations, over a long period of time, have been allowed to grow ever larger and more powerful and able to dominate not only markets and economies but governments as well. A corporation is an artificial “person” established by a state or national government through the granting of a “charter.” Corporate charters in the past would grant specified privileges for a limited period of time and imposed limits on what a corporation was allowed to do, but those limitations have been systematically eliminated leaving us with governments that are less democratic and more fascistic in character. If the people of the world are to salvage any semblance of democratic government, we will need to find ways to restore such limitations on corporate power.
As this article, Our Hidden History of Corporations in the U.S., points out:
Initially, the privilege of incorporation was granted selectively to enable activities that benefited the public, such as construction of roads or canals. Enabling shareholders to profit was seen as a means to that end. The states also imposed conditions (some of which remain on the books, though unused) like these:
- Corporate charters (licenses to exist) were granted for a limited time and could be revoked promptly for violating laws.
- Corporations could engage only in activities necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose.
- Corporations could not own stock in other corporations nor own any property that was not essential to fulfilling their chartered purpose.
- Corporations were often terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm.
- Owners and managers were responsible for criminal acts committed on the job.
- Corporations could not make any political or charitable contributions nor spend money to influence law-making.
One UK based initiative that is working to shift power away from corporations is https://www.noncorporate.org/. It says: This site is for people who don’t want to support giant corporations any more. We make it easy to switch to non-corporate alternatives. Well, it may not be that easy, but their site does provide some good ideas.
Meanwhile, some smaller incorporated businesses are voluntarily trying to do the right thing. An article, Can Companies Force Themselves to Do Good?, that recently appeared in the New Yorker magazine describes the basic dimensions of a new model and a few cases in which it has been applied. Is this a way to put the value of private enterprise into the hands of the many instead of the few? Camille Canon is the co-founder and executive director of Purpose Foundation, a non-profit organization that has created a new kind of ownership structure that just may provide a workable answer. It is designed to help retiring business owners leave a legacy that serves the community and the common good instead of selling out to highest bidder.
“The imperative to make money can be transformed into a requirement to do good. “It’s not sufficient to just have an idea of what the future could look like—you have to make it actually possible in practice,” Canon said. Business owners now have a potent new tool to translate their ideas for a better future into reality.”
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Who, or what, stands in the way of the globalist’s agenda of “full spectrum dominance” that has been promulgated by the Project for the New American Century?Americans and the world need to understand that, according to former chief nuclear weapons inspector, Scott Ritter, “the Ukraine conflict was, and is, solely the byproduct of a concerted plan by the United States and NATO to use Ukraine as a foil to generate conflict designed to bring down the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.” The globalist dominators believe that if they can get rid of Putin can then gain control of the wealth and resources of the vast Russian territory and achieve their goal of establishing a global neo-feudal government. That insane policy is putting the world on the brink of nuclear war. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has set their Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight. Get a more complete picture on these matters by reading Scott Ritter’s latest article.
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Pasta with broccoli
To finish on a less controversial note, I’d like to share with you my recipe for one of my favorite meals. This dish, which I’ve adapted from an old family favorite, is both delicious and nutritious. You can find the recipe here.
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Beyond Money 