0:00 what can we do about this downright
0:02 scary situation for one thing we need a
0:06 very different concept of money it's
0:11 time more people ask themselves and
0:13 their governments four simple questions
0:15 around the world governments borrow
0:18 money in interest from private banks
0:20 government debt is a major component of
0:23 total debt the servicing that debt takes
0:25 a big chunk of our taxes now we know
0:28 that banks simply create the money they
0:30 lend and that governments have given
0:32 them permission to do this so the first
0:36 question is why do government's choose
0:38 to borrow money from private banks and
0:40 interest when government could create
0:42 all the interest-free money it needs
0:44 itself and the second big question is
0:47 why create money as debt at all why not
0:50 create money that circulates permanently
0:52 and doesn't have to be perpetually rebar
0:55 owed and interest in order to exist the
0:58 third question how can a money system
1:01 that can only function with perpetually
1:03 accelerating growth be used to build a
1:05 sustainable economy isn't it logical
1:08 that perpetually accelerating growth and
1:11 sustainability are incompatible and
1:15 finally what is it about our current
1:18 system that makes a totally dependent on
1:20 perpetual growth what needs to be
1:23 changed to allow the creation of a
1:25 sustainable economy
1:30 at one time charging any interest on the
1:34 loan was called usury who was subject to
1:36 severe penalties including death every
1:39 major religion forbade usury most of the
1:44 arguments made against the practice were
1:46 moral it was held that money's only
1:48 legitimate purpose was to facilitate the
1:51 exchange of real goods and services any
1:54 form of making money from simply having
1:56 money was regarded as the act of a
1:58 parasite or of a thief however as the
2:03 credit needs of Commerce increased the
2:05 moral arguments eventually gave way to
2:07 the argument that lending involves risk
2:09 and loss of opportunity to the lender
2:12 and therefore attempting to make a
2:13 profit from lending is justified today
2:17 these notions seem quaint today the idea
2:19 of making money from money is held as an
2:22 ideal to strive for why work when you
2:24 can get your money to work for you
2:29 however in trying to envision a
2:31 sustainable future it's very clear that
2:34 the charging of interest is both a moral
2:36 and a practical problem
2:41 imagine a society and economy that can
2:45 endure for centuries because instead of
2:48 plundering its capital stores of energy
2:50 it restricts itself to present-day
2:52 income no more wood is harvested than
2:56 grows in the same period all energy is
2:59 renewable solar gravitational geothermal
3:03 magnetic and whatever else we discover
3:05 this society lives within the limits of
3:08 its non-renewable resources by reusing
3:11 and recycling everything and the
3:13 population just replaces itself such a
3:18 society could never function using a
3:21 money system utterly dependent on
3:22 perpetually accelerating growth a stable
3:26 economy would need a money supply at
3:28 least capable of remaining stable
3:30 without collapsing let's say the total
3:34 volume of this stable money supply is
3:37 represented by this big circle let's
3:40 also imagine that moneylenders must
3:42 actually have existing money to lend if
3:45 some people within this money supply
3:47 begin systematically lending money at
3:50 interest their share of the money supply
3:52 will grow if they continually reel own
3:56 add interest all the money that gets
3:58 paid back what's the inevitable result
4:01 whether it's gold fiat or debt money
4:03 doesn't matter the moneylenders will end
4:06 up with all the money and after the
4:09 foreclosures and bankruptcies are all
4:10 filed they'll get all the real property
4:13 - only if the proceeds of lending and
4:17 interest were evenly distributed among
4:19 the population with this central problem
4:22 be solved heavy taxation of bank profits
4:26 might accomplish this goal but then why
4:29 would banks want to be in business
4:33 if we were ever able to free ourselves
4:35 of the current situation we could
4:38 imagine banking run as a nonprofit
4:40 service to society dispersing its
4:43 interest earnings as a universal citizen
4:45 dividend for lending without charging
4:48 interest at all if it is the fundamental
5:20 nature of the system that causes the
5:22 problems tinkering with the system
5:24 cannot ever solve those problems the
5:28 system itself must be replaced many
5:34 monetary critics call for a return to
5:36 gold based money claiming that gold is a
5:39 long history of reliability they ignore
5:42 the many scans that can be played with
5:44 gold shaving coins - basing the metal
5:46 cornering the market all of which were
5:49 abundantly practiced in ancient Rome and
5:51 contributed to its fall some advocates
5:55 silver at being more abundant than gold
5:57 and therefore more difficult to corner
5:59 many questioned the need to bring back
6:01 precious metals at all no one wants to
6:04 go back to carrying heavy sacks of coins
6:06 to go shopping it's a certainty that
6:09 paper digital plastic or more likely
6:12 biometric ID money would be the real
6:15 medium of trade for the same potential
6:17 for creating unlimited debt money we
6:19 have now beyond that if gold again
6:23 became the sole legal basis of money
6:25 those who have no gold
6:27 would suddenly have no money other
6:31 monetary reform advocates have concluded
6:33 that greed and dishonesty are the main
6:35 problems and that there may be better
6:37 ways to create an honest and equitable
6:39 money system
6:40 than returning to silver or gold
6:43 inventive minds have proposed a variety
6:46 of alternate ways to create money many
6:49 private barter systems create money as
6:52 debt much as banks do but it is done
6:54 openly and without charging interest an
6:57 example is a barter system in which debt
7:00 is expressed as pledges of hours of work
7:02 all work being valued equally at a
7:04 dollar figure that then allows hours to
7:07 be equated with the dollar price of
7:08 goods this kind of money system can be
7:12 set up by anyone who can devise a way to
7:14 do the accounting and find willing and
7:16 trustworthy participants setting up a
7:19 local barter money system even if it
7:22 were little used now would be prudent
7:24 emergency planning for any community
7:29 monetary reform like electoral reform is
7:32 a big topic and one that requires a
7:35 willingness to change and to think
7:37 outside the box
7:38 monetary reform again like electoral
7:41 reform will not come easily because the
7:44 enormous ly powerful interests that
7:46 benefit from the existing system will do
7:48 their utmost to maintain their advantage
7:51 now that we've seen that money is just
7:54 an idea and that in reality money can be
7:56 whatever we make it here's one very
7:58 simple alternative monetary concept to
8:01 consider this model is based on systems
8:05 that have worked in the past in England
8:07 and America systems that were undermined
8:09 and destroyed by the Goldsmith bankers
8:11 their fractional reserve system
8:18 to create an economy based on permanent
8:21 interest free money money could simply
8:24 be created and spent into the economy by
8:26 the government preferably on long
8:28 lasting infrastructure that facilitates
8:31 the economy such as roads railroads
8:33 bridges harbours and public markets this
8:37 money would not be created as debt it
8:40 would be created as valued that value
8:43 being in the form of whatever it was
8:45 spent on if this new money facilitated a
8:48 proportional increase in trade requiring
8:50 its use it would cause no inflation
8:52 whatsoever if government spending did
8:56 cause inflation there would be two
8:58 courses of action available inflation is
9:02 equivalent in effect to a flat tax on
9:04 money whether the money goes down and
9:07 value 20 percent or the government takes
9:09 20 percent of our money away from us the
9:11 effect on our buying power is the same
9:15 view this way inflation in place of
9:18 Taxation might be politically acceptable
9:20 if well spent and kept within limits or
9:24 government could choose to counter
9:26 inflation by collecting tax monies that
9:29 it then takes out of use thus reducing
9:31 the money supply and restoring its value
9:34 to control deflation which is the
9:37 phenomenon of falling wages and prices
9:39 the government would simply spend more
9:41 money into existence with no competing
9:44 private debt money creation governments
9:48 would have more effective control of
9:49 their nation's money supply the public
9:52 would know whom to blame if things went
9:54 wrong governments would rise and fall on
9:57 their ability to preserve the value of
9:59 money
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