National Debt – Freeread

Discovering the New Age, Part 2

June 20, 2016July 15, 2016 Joseph Dewey

June 20, 2016

Discovering the New Age, Part 2

Sorting out Mind from Emotion

The core difference between the old age and the new is emotional polarization vs mental. DK emphasizes that a great benefit of the coming age is that people will shift to the mental plane in their thinking, “the plane whereon the Masters can be found.”

Humanity has made some progress in this direction but the vast majority are still emotionally polarized. If you confront their dogmatic beliefs with logic and reason they will just tune out, reject and seek to have their astral ideals reinforced.

There are a lot of things I could present, from the plane of the mind, concerning political beliefs that would be instantly rejected by many students. Such controversy usually accomplishes little but the establishment of grievances. Instead I am going to present several items of a political nature that most would agree must be handled with logic over feeling. If we can see eye to eye on these then perhaps a door may be open for wider agreement.

The first item to examine is the completely illogical and outrageous national debt.

By the end of the Obama administration the debt will be around $20 trillion dollars. That is about a quarter of a million dollars owed by a typical family of four.

And where can you find a typical family of four to come up with the quarter million cash to pay their share?

You can’t.

So the politicians just kick the can down the road in hope that the someone in the future will be responsible for the reckoning.

Is it logical that our government has run up such a huge debt in our name?

No.

Is it logical that the American people just acquiesced and let them do it?

No.

Is it logical that millions of Americans encouraged such borrowing and support it to this day?

No.

So, what accounts for this madness? Does it come the emotions or the mind?

Obviously such recklessness does not come from a people centered in reason, but from the emotional plane where logic usually takes a back seat.

But even emotional people have a brain. We all know lots of emotional people that still handle their budget in a reasonable way. How could we have let this happen to or country?

The answer is really quite simple. We the people have just not been paying attention to the details. We have trusted our financial fate to politicians and they tell us that there is no problem with the money they are spending… not to worry.

If we compared our country to a family it would go like this.

Jeb has a credit card with a very high limit but just makes an average salary. There are many things the family desires that cannot be obtained with his salary alone. Since his wife and kids are always complaining about what they do not have Jeb feels under pressure and starts to cave. He drives a used car but everyone wants a new one, and a sporty one at that. He buys one with his magical credit card and is a big hit with all in the family except little Eddie. Eddie is a smart little kid, a whiz on computers, gadgets and numbers.

“How are you going to pay for this car, Dad?” He asks.

Everyone turns on Eddie and frowns. His skepticism seems to spoil their excitement.

“Don’t worry about it,” says Dad.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” the others echoed.

Now the family had been pretty frugal with buying their groceries and Jeb was getting complaints that the neighbors eat better than they do. He thought about the praise he had received for buying the new car so he thought, “What the heck! I’ll buy better quality groceries with the credit card. After all, why should we do without when the neighbors have what they want?”

Jeb started buying quality foods with his credit card and soon little Eddie voiced concern about where the money was coming from. Jeb had some second thoughts and cut the grocery budget for a few weeks, but got so many complaints from the rest of the family that he went back to buying the good stuff. He thought, “We deserve this,” and threw in some expensive wine on the purchases.

Soon his son, Andy, graduated from High School and wanted to go to a good college. They had enough money set aside for him to go to a local junior college and live at home, but Andy didn’t like that idea.

Andy told his Dad, “I don’t want to go to the local backwoods college and stay at home. That is humiliating when all my friends are going to the good university in the big city.”

Jeb responded, “But, son, that would cost three times as much as the local college, especially considering, higher tuition and room and board.”

“But Dad, it’s for a good cause. It’ll give me a greater chance to get a good job.”

Jeb hesitates, “We just don’t have the money son.”

Andy triumphantly comes back with, “But you have that great credit card and if you really loved me and wanted what is best for me then you would use it.”

Jeb did love his son and he felt guilty that such love was ever in question so he gave in and sent Andy to the good college.”

Little Eddie voiced some concern about the large debt and interest accumulating on the credit card, but the Mother said, “You love Andy, don’t you?’

“Yes,’ said Eddie.

“You want what is best for him don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Then let us get behind supporting him and sending him to the good college that he deserves,” said the Mother.

You see where this is going? Soon, not a month goes by that some new desire to spend for a benevolent purpose surfaces. There seems to be no end to good spending causes for the family.

And what is the inevitable result of such recklessness? Basically the same as a Ponzi Scheme.

Soon the payments and interest become so great that Jeb has to make payments by charging them to the card itself.

Finally comes the day that the bank carefully examines Jeb’s situation and becomes alarmed. They completely cut off his credit and take his card back. Then they demand payment in full. They tell him that if he doesn’t have the savings to pay then all his assets will be sold and proceeds taken by the bank.

The Jeb family then suffers a total disaster. They have to sell their car, their house and Andy has to drop out of college and get a low paying job. They now barely have enough for groceries and all other wonderful purchases are sold or returned.

Now they have nothing of value.

And why?

Because they followed desire/emotion rather than reason.

What could have prevented the disaster?

The solution was extremely simple. They should have only bought what they could afford and when they saw they were over extended they merely needed to cut back on their spending. They needed to realize that they could not afford everything they desired, even if the desired seemed to be benevolent.

Now the really odd thing is this.

Most families are fairly responsible with their credit cards and even the majority of the more irresponsible ones do not go so crazy that they will suffer a collapse through purchases that are not absolute necessities.

Now we, as a nation are like a big family that has a huge credit card, as did Jeb. Most of us can stand back and look at Jeb’s decisions and see them for what they are. They were based on the old age emotion desire aspect and not the Aquarian reasoning.

BUT…

Half or more of our population seem to have no problem with our exorbitant debt or adding much more to it as long as part of the money spent fulfills some of their personal desires they see as benevolent.

So I ask this question. Do decisions that support this dangerous spending come from the plane of the mind or the emotional/astral? Are they related to the old age, attached to desire or the new, seeking a mental polarization?

One would think that all but those anchored like cement on the old age would see where the mental polarization would lie.

Conclusion: Those attached to the old age, linked to the desire nature, will support totally irresponsible spending, even for many things that are not real necessities, to get what they want.

The mentally polarized will seek to a balanced budget and responsible spending, even if some of the good things they desire are not obtained. Instead they will work to obtain their desires through practical and logical and harmless means.

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Creating Wealth

July 17, 2011July 20, 2017 Joseph Dewey

This entry is part 31 of 31 in the series 2011B

They say rocket science is complicated but I don’t think it holds a candle to understanding the economy, currency, the markets and what makes them work. If you study rocket science you basically learn A, B and C and find it equals D. There is very little if any disagreement among rocket scientists as to what makes a rocket work.

By contrast economic students can study A, B and C and cannot come to any unified conclusion. Some think the answer is D; others E or F and still others think no definite answer can be found. Average people listen to economic debate and their head starts to spin. Most just go with some authority that is in harmony with their mindset and accept what they say.

In this treatise I have only covered a small amount of economic thought, but it is an important part that is obscure to the people and widely misunderstood. I believe that the majority who read this can see the truth in what I present.

At present the majority do not know enough about the principles of money to know what is the best money system to support. Most people do not think about it that much. They believe our money system is in danger but not sure of the cause. They vaguely think that overspending and bad management has a lot to do with it but not sure of the details so they defer to their political leaders.

There are a number of economic points that the majority understand and these must be the starting point for positive change which is to come.

(1) It is precarious for the State, business or individual to borrow more money than he has income to pay back.

(2) Much of our money we borrow and spend is wasted.

(3) It’s not a good idea to place our finances in the hands of a third party as we do with the Federal Reserve for instance. Unfortunately many think the Fed is a government entity.

(4) If we really could create our own money interest free then yes, the majority would support this over borrowing from private sources at interest. The public merely needs convincing that this could be done.

(5) Most understand that too much money in circulation causes inflation.

(6) The majority feel there are a number of things wrong with our economy and money system but not sure of all the causes or the best solution.

That said let us sum up a plan for a money system that is likely to have majority support once the information in this treatise is understood.

As stated earlier there are two types of fiat money. The first is that which we have today. It is created not by the government but by a private banking system and then loaned to our government, business and individuals. All new money under the current system is linked to debt and interest.

The other fiat money is what is proposed here instead. We shall call this the New Greenback. This is money which creates no debt and adds no interest due by the government.

To create this money our government must do today what it did in the days of Lincoln and merely assume its constitutional authority to create its own debt free money. The new money could be more potent than the old Greenback, which had limited use. This new money could be used for all debts and payments foreign and domestic.

Under the current system the people are reluctant to support borrowing money to stimulate the economy or build new infrastructure. The downside is we have to go into debt and pay interest to do this.

This downside does not exist with the New Greenback. Let us say that we want to build a new bridge using the New Greenbacks. All the government has to do is issue the money to accomplish the job. The money, even though created by government, is far from worthless because after it is spent the bridge remains and will continue to add value to the economy for 50-100 years. Before the issuance of the New Greenbacks we had nothing. Afterwards we have a valuable bridge and new money added to circulation. The new money added to the system is not inflationary because its value is sustained by the value added by the bridge.

This is a much different situation than much of the money added to circulation in the past as much new money has been spent on things that add no value to society. During wartime we built many armaments that are destroyed in battle. These dollars were inflationary because they added no lasting value to our country.

In the past, much of the money that has been added to the system has been borrowed at interest to create armaments that add little wealth to the economy. They may be necessary for our security but their end is to be destroyed. Thus the dollars to create them are added to circulation but no added value to sustain the value of those dollars. A battleship built and then destroyed is as if it was never built (value wise) but the effect of the money added to circulation to build it remains.

If we create dollars to produce roads, bridges, and new infrastructure then we are adding value to our economy. When value is added in the form of usable products and services then dollars can also be added to the economy without producing inflation. If we issue New Greenbacks to sustain the creation of wealth building products and services then we can solve the unemployment problem. All we have to do is create wealth-building jobs with the New Greenback that can put people back to work. There are usually plenty of these to offer jobs to all who wish to work if we just had the money. The good news is that under the New Greenback system the money available for goods and services that add value would be unlimited.

One important use of the New Greenback would be in managing the national debt.

The first benefit is we would not be adding to the debt through borrowing from the Federal Reserve. Instead of borrowing at interest the government would merely create New Greenbacks debt and interest free with the stroke of a few computer keys. The only debt that would be added would be money borrowed from other nations such as China, Japan and the UK. At present foreign nations hold about 32% of our debt.

We would probably still borrow money from the nations with whom we have a trade deficit because these trading nations want to loan us money so we can use it to purchase more products from them. The New Greenback system would help with interest and repayment. Presently, we pay only interest on loans and we have to borrow to do this. Under the New Greenback system this would no longer be the case. Instead of borrowing, we could issue New Greenbacks to pay the interest (and principle when needed). This would have the benefit of creating no new debt.

Under the New Greenback system the trade deficit would shrink because of the stimulation it would provide for American production and the economy as a whole.

Unfortunately, much of the money borrowed by the government today not only places us in debt and accrues interest, but is spent on things that add no wealth. In addition to war materials a tremendous amount is spent on the various bureaucracies. Some government agencies, such as NASA, add some wealth to our system but many government workers just move wealth around without creating anything of sustained value. This is one important reason that a small government is good for the economy. The fewer the bureaucrats that need to be paid the better the sustained value of the dollar will be.

The Obama administration was mystified that their economic programs did so little for the economy. One thing that did not help, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, between Sept 2008 to Sept 2010 (latest figure available) the number of federal jobs increased in number by over 174,000. These were not replacement jobs, but new ones.

Overall, according to a report by Obama’s own economists, the jobs added by his stimulus program cost $278,000 per job. If Milton Freidman were still alive he would be telling us we could have done better by just using helicopters and dumping the money at random for the people to spend.

It is now obvious that most of the stimulus did not go to wealth creating “shovel ready jobs,” and even Obama admitted this. Maybe the money didn’t go to shovel ready endeavors that create wealth but we do know it went somewhere. Obviously it went to low wealth producing high paying low value jobs that add little to the wealth of the nation. This is evidenced by the fact that the stimulus did not even create the expected short-term improvement except for a few fat cats benefiting. Instead, the unemployment just went up, the debt owed by our grandkids went up and the interest we have to pay in the present went up.

The Obama stimulus was $775 Billion. If we add in the interest yet to be paid it will add up to over a $1 trillion.

Let us say we could reverse time and instead of stimulating the economy with borrowed money at interest that was mostly spent on things that did not produce wealth we take a different approach, which is this.

The Republic takes back its power to create money and issues $1 trillion in New Greenbacks. This is plenty of money to tackle quite a few things. But let us say we just put $500 billion, or half of it, toward repairing and improving our infrastructure as well as building new schools. That would have reduced the unemployment rate right there and we could have had a half trillion dollars left over for something grand.

Forget about spending millions to help Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job or to restore old Indian trails. Here are a number of wealth producing projects we could have tackled.

(1) Going back to the moon with a dual purpose.

First, to add new life into the space program, which also has proven to add many wealth producing innovations as well as helping national security.

Secondly we would mine Helium 3 which is a non polluting environmentally safe nuclear fuel. This potent source of energy could supply all our energy needs for thousands of years and eliminate our dependence of foreign fuel. This project would pay of big time for centuries.

(2) As an alternative we could perfect breeder nuclear reactors that use nuclear waste as fuel and create non-poluting, carbon free nuclear energy while eliminating nuclear waste.

(3) Make zero interest loans to small businesses if they commit to hire one person for each $50,000 they receive. This would create jobs at less than 18% the cost of Obama’s program and we would get most of the money back to spend another time.

(4) If we just used the remainder and sent each man woman and child in the country a check for $1,600 each the economy would be more stimulated by this than anything done by the official stimulus.

And the best part would be that nothing would be added to the national debt, there would be no interest to pay and little or no inflation would result.

When one considers the possibilities it is amazing how simple the solution is to economic instability. Only four things need to be accomplished.

(1) Our government needs to take back its power to create interest and debt free money and issue New Greenbacks.

(2) The New Greenbacks must be issued, as much as possible, to support endeavors that create wealth.

(3) A reasonable balance must be attained so there is not a lack of money or too much money in circulation.

(4) Make legal the creation and distribution of alternative currencies such as gold & silver coin, local currencies, virtual currencies etc., though taxes and public services must be paid with the New Greenbacks. This leaves the door open for the best ideas in currency to demonstrate their value.

Even though items two and three are simple in theory they are difficult in execution because selfish interests want to overspend. Not only do powerful players seek to overspend but they care not where the money is spent as long as their pressure groups are happy. Thus we have the danger of the money being spent on projects that are frivolous and do not create wealth.

Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem and that rests with the final arbiter of power in this country as well as the world – the people.

The people are willing to do this if they have some organization or vehicle to provide a platform for their power. Two such organizations are outlined in this book. The first is Molecular Politics, a concept that allows the voters to be co-legislators with their representatives. Since this may take some time to create and perfect, a preparatory group called The Majority Speaks is proposed.

These organizations previously detailed in this book which is dedicated to the end that the people are well served and their goodwill becomes manifest as abundance for all.

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Giving Away Our Power

April 29, 2011July 19, 2017 Joseph Dewey

This entry is part 11 of 31 in the series 2011B

Now we come to the final possible action that could restore us on the path of prosperity.

(10) Restoring the power to create money to our elected representatives, as specified in the Constitution, instead of farming this out to private enterprise.

Throughout most of history, from the time of the ancient goldsmiths to the bankers and now the privately owned Federal Reserve it has been the practice of kings, emperors and presidents to borrow money from those that lend and burden their people with the high interest on the loans that ever accumulates until the collapse of the kingdom.

The United States has proved to be no exception to this practice. As of this writing we have borrowed over $14 trillion and pay around $450 billion yearly in interest. At the rate the interest is increasing it will not be long before every dollar collected through federal income tax will be owed to interest and do nothing to reduce the principle.

One has to wonder why we allowed ourselves to get into this situation when the Constitution (Section Eight) provides us with a brilliant way to escape debt and interest. It says Congress has the power “to coin money, and regulate the value thereof.”

Since Congress has Constitutional power to coin (create) money this is one of the jobs our representatives have taken upon themselves to do – right?

Not quite. It is true that the taxpayers do bear the expense of minting coins and printing paper money. The only reason the government has retained this power to themselves is because it is a costly process and bankers do not want to do it.

Only about 3% of the money supply is composed of paper or coins. Economic writer Ellen H. Brown tells us this:

“The other 97 percent exists only as data entries on computer screens, and all of this money was created by banks in the form of loans.

“The money that banks lend is not recycled from pre-existing deposits. It is new money, which did not exist until it was lent.

Thirty percent of the money created by banks with accounting entries is invested for their own accounts.”
Web of Debt by Ellen H. Brown, 2008, Page 3

So it looks like all the new money put into circulation comes from three sources.

(1) 30% of it comes from banks investing in their own pet projects.

(2) Loans to businesses and individuals.

(3) Loans to our government.

When loans are repaid the money is virtually destroyed (withdrawn from the system) and must be replaced by new loans. This is one reason that the Fed likes to make loans to the government. The money is never paid back. We only pay on the interest and leave the principle untouched.

Many people who are concerned about overspending complain that the government just prints up money that is created out of thin air, but this is a misconception. Except for a small amount of hard cash the new money the government puts into circulation is not printed or created by it but by the Federal Reserve, and, as mentioned previously, this is a private company, not owned by the people.

Here’s the situation. Our Congress, which has been granted power to create money by the Constitution, has yielded that power to a private corporation. This corporation does not even have the expense of printing money but merely enters the loans on a computer database and charges us the interest from that point on.

It is difficult to imagine an individual giving away his power in such an outrageous manner but if he did it would go something like this.

Don has a bountiful cherry tree in his back yard. Anytime he wants some cherries all he has to do is walk outside, go up to the tree and pick all he needs. Better yet he has a kid that loves to pick cherries so all Don has to do is ask the kid to go pick him some and he has all he needs.

The neighbor notices the kid picking cherries and comes up with an idea to make a profit. He approaches Don and says, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll manage your kid’s cherry picking to make sure he doesn’t pick too many or not enough. All the cherries I will have your kid deliver to you will be considered a loan and I’ll only charge you 5% of the value of the cherries until you pay the cherries back. Sometimes the rate could be more or less but we’ll settle on this amount for now. But rest assured, I’ll make sure you have cherries whenever you need them.”

Now Don’s wife hit him on the head with a frying pan that morning so he wasn’t thinking too clearly. In an extremely fussy state of mind he said, “Yes, that sounds okay, I guess.”

All of Don’s friends and family thought Don was stark raving mad but he made an agreement and decided to honor it. It wasn’t long before the problem became worse than anyone foresaw. Don was unable to make any payment on the borrowed cherries – cherries from his own backyard – so as he used additional cherries the cherry debt became greater and the interest payment became huge.

Finally, the day came that the interest on the cherries amounted to a greater value than the cherries available to pick. It was at this point that Don finally awoke to his terrible situation, but, alas, it was too late. The neighbor laid claim to full ownership of the tree but made this nice little offer. “If you come work in my back yard and take care of my garden I’ll let you have a few cherries now and then.”

Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Most of us would not consider such a raw deal even if we got whacked in the head with a frying pan. But the amazing thing that is We The People have made a similar deal with our neighbor, the Federal Reserve.

Instead of creating our own money interest free we not only let someone else do this for us but we pay them interest on what should be our own money just as Don pays interest on his own cherries.

Is it any wonder our country is in trouble when our representatives are no smarter than Don?

Now we clearly see the problem the question is this: Is there anything we can do about it?

The answer, fortunately, is yes, for there is no problem that doesn’t have a solution and there is no hole that is so deep that one cannot climb out into the fresh air and sunlight of a better life.

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