The present disorder in the financial markets and the cascading failures of financial institutions come as no surprise. Those who recognize the impossibility of perpetual exponential growth and who understand how compound interest is built into the global system of money and banking expect the continuation of periodic “bubbles” and “busts,” each of increasing amplitude until the systems shakes itself apart.
Engineers call this phenomenon, “positive feedback.” Such a system cannot find equilibrium. Imagine a heating system in which the thermostat, sensing a rise in temperature, calls for more heat instead of less. Such is the nature of the debt-money system. The imposition of interest on the debt by which money is created, demands that more debt be created. Such is the debt imperative which gives rise to a growth imperative. Among other things, it prevents the emergence of a steady state economy.
Is this the final round? Who can say? Can the system be saved yet one more time? Maybe.
Under the central banking regime which has become all but universal in countries around the world, money has been politicized. The collusion between politicians and international bankers enables governments to extract wealth from the economy by deficit spending and banks to extract wealth by charging interest on money as they create it by making loans. These two parasitic elements take wealth away from productive members of society and lavish it on military adventures, international intrigues, wasteful boondoggles, and financial finaglers.
When the system spins out of control what will come out of the chaos? It is impossible to predict but here are two strong possibilities. When the dollar collapses the financial and political elite class will certainly try to orchestrate a new global monetary regime based on the same old mechanisms for centralizing power and concentrating wealth in their own hands, seeking to complete the New (feudal) World Order which has been abuilding for the past three hundred years. Another possibility is the emergence of the kind of decentralized, democratic, and sustainable system we have been advocating for a long time.
We had better get ready to seize the opportunity that accompanies this impending crisis.
How? By organizing ourselves in our local communities and affinity groups to reclaim the credit commons, to create interest-free, non-dollar, non-bank exchange mechanisms and payment media. This is not as hard as it seems We already know how to do it. All it takes is organization and will.
Back to the current crisis, we should consider the possible actions of America’s creditors. According to Paul Joseph Watson & Yihan Dai, in and article in Prison Planet (http://prisonplanet.com/) dated Friday, September 19, 2008, “China Finance, China News and Chaobao Financial News, all state owned media outlets, slammed the Fed for taking action that will only make long term economic conditions worse and devalue the dollar by “creating money that does not exist which leads to the inflation of liquidity,” a policy contrary to China’s position as a holder of vast reserves of US dollars.”
Central banks have one true function, that is to manage the effects of the parasitic drain, to decide who will pay the price, who will feel the pain. They can either (1) restrict credit, thus causing recessions, bankruptcies and unemployment; or (2) they can expand credit and inflate the money supply by monetizing debts (either public or private) that are uncollectible.
Given China’s position as one of the United States’ biggest creditors, it is in a powerful position to determine the outcome of the current and future financial crises. If they don’t like the restructuring plan that the financial elite wants to put in place, they can kick over the table by dumping their dollar holdings and causing the value of the dollar to crash through the floor. Organized others acting in cooperation might do the same.
“The king is dead, long live the king.”
My upcoming book, “The End of Money,” due to be published early next year by Chelsea Green, will elaborate these points.
t.h.g.
Beyond Money 